Looking for Paradise
by SilenceEchoes39
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha is forced to move to a new town with his father after his parents split up. There he will face the challenges of adjusting to his new life as kid from a broken home, coping with loss, dealing with a creepy neighbour and befriending a happy-go-lucky boy from the streets. But that's not all, Sasuke's father is hiding something from him. But what could it possibly be?
1. Chapter 1

When two people fall in love and then make the decision to get married, it should mean that they will spend the rest of their life together.

These days that didn't always seem to be the case.

It was so common to hear people talk about splitting up and getting divorces and more than half the younger ones you met these days had parents that were no longer together. It was so typical that it all just seemed to have become the norm.

Even so when it happens to your own family, it can take you by complete surprise.

Just as fifteen-year-old Sasuke Uchiha found out only four months ago.

When Sasuke's parents had made the decision to separate, it had come as a complete shock. Sasuke's parents, Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha had always had a good relationship as husband and wife. Sure they weren't the type of couple that was overly affectionate with each other, they didn't have cute pet names for each other or cuddle when they watched a movie together, but the love and the intimacy was there and while Mikoto was an openly affectionate person, Fugaku would often display his affections in a more subtle and even somewhat bashful way - which Mikoto was perfectly content with. To their friends and family, Sasuke included, Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha had always been a perfectly normal happy couple.

However things were different now and as Sasuke walked down the driveway of the apartment complex his mother currently resided in, watching as his mother gathered her suitcases and put them into the boot of the yellow taxi parked on the side, he couldn't help but muse to himself about all this. Mikoto lifted one of her suitcases into the boot of the taxi with the help of the taxi driver and then turned her attention to Sasuke. A radiant smile lit up her face at the sight of him approaching.

'So befitting of mother.' Sasuke couldn't help but think when he saw his mother smile at him.

Mikoto Uchiha had always been a beautiful woman with kind and gentle personality and her smile always reflected both her beauty and her kindness.

When Sasuke finally came to stand in front of his mother, he handed the laptop bag he had been carrying to her.

"Thank you Sasuke." Mikoto said appreciatively.

"It's okay," Was Sasuke's response.

Mikoto placed the strap of the laptop bag over her shoulder and Sasuke decided he'd lift the last suitcase into the taxi for her.

"Oh be careful, Sasuke." Mikoto warned. "That one's a lot heavier than the others."

"I can lift it." Sasuke said as he bent down to pick the suitcase off the ground and found that his mother was right when she said it was heavy.

"Are you sure, I don't want you to strain your back or anything."

"It's fine." Despite the weight, Sasuke managed to lift the suitcase into the boot of the taxi with the rest.

"Is that everything, miss?" The taxi driver asked.

"Yes, I've got everything." Mikoto gave the man a kind smile.

"Shall we get going then?"

"Yes, but could you just give me a moment to say goodbye to my son please?"

The taxi driver nodded and then went around to the front of the vehicle and got into the front seat leaving Sasuke alone with his mother.

"So do you have everything you need?" Mikoto asked a serious look on her face as she eyed her son.

"Yes mother, it's all here," Sasuke answered, gesturing to the duffle bag at his feet which he had brought down earlier.

"Everything's in there?" Mikoto asked. "You're spare clothes?"

"Yes."

"Toothbrush?"

"Yes."

"Your wallet?"

"Yes."

"Your keys?"

"Yes, mum I have everything." Sasuke said emphasising the 'everything' in an effort to get his mother to relax even just a little bit.

Since last night, Mikoto had been a bit agitated and Sasuke could only attribute it to her upcoming trip. His mother worked for a local newspaper as a journalist and going to cover a story somewhere in Russia - something to do with a conspiracy against the Russian Federation if Sasuke remembered correctly.

So that left Sasuke with his father while Mikoto was away and that made Mikoto a little anxious. Since Sasuke's parents had decided to separate, there had been a lack of communication between his mother and father. Of course they had not hateful feelings towards one another, but after the constant and escalated arguments between the two that lead up to their separation, things had become rather tense and somewhat awkward between the two of them, they rarely spoke to each other and the times when they were forced to they acted so stiff and formal to one another.

"And your father?" Mikoto asked, fiddling with the last button on her black coat. "Does he know he has to come and get you and where?"

"I'm sure he won't forget." Sasuke reassured. "Now you better get going or you'll miss your flight."

Mikoto sighed.

"Yes, you're right," She hesitated and looked from the taxi to Sasuke, her brow was slightly furrowed in concern and her dark eyes looked to Sasuke almost longingly, "are you sure you don't want to come with me and we can quickly drop you off at your father's?"

"No thanks, I'll be fine mother but you'll be late if you don't head off now, it's a half hour drive to the airport after all."

Huffing, Mikoto threw her hands up in the air dramatically.

"Oh why don't you ever let anyone fuss over you, Sasuke? And you don't need to treat me like a forgetful child; I'm your mother after all!" Mikoto told him in a mock scolding tone.

Sasuke allowed his lips to quirk into a small amused smile. His mother had always had the unique power to break through Sasuke's tough and serious demeanour and manage to bring a smile to his lips.

"I'll be okay; I'll text you as soon as father arrives."

Mikoto smiled tenderly at Sasuke before stepping forward and taking Sasuke into her arms, Sasuke returned the embrace and felt his mother press a kiss to his raven locks before pulling away.

"Take care, I'll see you soon."

Sasuke nodded and watched as his mother walked to the front of the taxi and opened the door.

"I love you!" She called one last time to him waving.

"Love you too." Sasuke replied.

Mikoto blew a kiss to him in return before disappearing into the front seat. The vehicle shook a little as the engine hummed to life and Sasuke stepped back onto the sidewalk as the taxi reversed back a bit before moving onto the road.

Sasuke saw his mother stick her hand out of the open window and waving at him for the final time as they drove away.

Sasuke raised his hand from his jean pocket and waved back. He watched the yellow taxi drive down the road until it was so far away that he could no longer see it and walked over to the black bar fence behind him and leaned his back against it. Sticking his hand into his pocket, Sasuke fished out his phone along with the small white earphones attached, pressed the single middle button and swiped his thumb across the bottom of the screen where it said 'slide to unlock'. Placing a single earphone into his left ear, Sasuke opened up his music and selected a song from one of the many that he had stored on his phone. As the Fray's 'You Found Me' began to play from the earphone, Sasuke closed his music and opened up his photos, scrolling through his albums until he came to the one of the year before. There weren't a lot of photos in that album, Sasuke noticed as he started scrolling down, just some occasional pictures that had been taken at parties of his friends acting like lunatics and three of his two cats he had taken while they slept on his bed. Sasuke paused when he neared the end and a row of his family caught his eye.

He tapped on the first one which was a photo of his mother and father sitting close together in a booth at a restaurant. It had been their wedding anniversary and they had celebrated it at some fancy restaurant that Sasuke forgot the name of. Sasuke took in the looks on his parents faces. Mikoto was beaming and looked absolutely stunning in her white woollen cardigan and pastel pink blouse, she was pressed into her husband's side who had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Fugaku's face was stern looking as always but it was softened slightly as he allowed a small smile to grace his lips.

Sasuke swiped the screen when he was finished looking at the image, there were a few more of his parents and other family members, such as his aunt and uncle, a single picture of his great grandfather, Madara sleeping in his chair with his arms folded over his chest and even scowling in his sleep and one of himself frowning in irritation as one of his older cousin's, Shisui had an arm around his neck and pulling Sasuke close to him while his other cousin, Obito stood behind them, messing Sasuke's hair and pinching his cheek while grinning toothily at the camera.

The song reached its final chorus and Sasuke's hand froze when he saw the next photo that appeared on his screen. It was a close up photo of himself and his older brother, Itachi.

Sasuke felt his entire body stiffen and a lump begin to form in his throat as he gently rubbed his thumb over his brother's smiling face, his touch feather light.

Everything was so different now to how it was then. His parents were now separated and considering filing for a divorce. Sasuke would spend one week staying at his father's house while the next he would stay with his mother. And his brother...

Sasuke's train of thought was interrupted when his phone vibrated in his hand, a pop-up at the top of the screen signalling that it was a message from his father.

Sasuke took a deep breath and opened up the pop-up to read the message his father sent him.

'I just got off the ring road and am stopping to fill up

at the petrol station. I should be there within a couple

of minutes.

Wait for me and do not go wandering off.'

'"Wandering off", does he think I'm some absent minded child?' Sasuke thought frowning at the message. Although he was displeased, Sasuke replied to the text, knowing that his father would get annoyed with him for not texting back to let him know he got his father's text message.

'Okay, I'll be waiting out the front.'

Sasuke closed his messages and for a while, he just stared at his phone screen. The song had ended and in the silent interval before the next song started to play, Sasuke could hear the low rumbling sound of thunder. Looking up at the sky, he saw that grey clouds had started to roll in.

Sasuke recalled hearing that it was going to start to rain by twelve o'clock on the radio this morning. He pulled the hood of his jacket up over his head to prevent it from getting soaked in case it did start raining and he was still stuck out here waiting.

It was then that Sasuke caught sight of a black car parked across the road. Nothing seemed odd about it at first sight, but then Sasuke noticed that the window at the front was rolled down and there was someone sitting in the front seat. Because the car was a good distance away from where Sasuke was sitting, so he couldn't get a good look at the occupant of the car but he could tell that it was a man, his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and his head was turned to face Sasuke's direction, giving Sasuke the distinct impression that the man was looking at him.

Sasuke watched the man for a minute or two, waiting to see a reaction of some kind or for the man to turn his head away. But he didn't, he made no kind of movement and even though Sasuke couldn't see his eyes, he was certain that the man was looking at him. The street was empty except for some unoccupied cars parked beside the sidewalk.

Sasuke was growing increasingly uncomfortable so he decided to turn his attention back to his phone and try to ignore the stranger sitting in the car.

It wasn't long before Sasuke spotted his father's green SUV coming up the road. Sasuke put his phone inside his pocket, keeping his earphone in as he stood up and picked up his duffle bag as his father came to stop by the sidewalk.

Sasuke walked over to the back to place his duffle bag in the back seat.

"You got everything?" His father questioned when he opened the door.

"Yes, father."

Sasuke closed the car door and then walked over to the front and got into the passenger's seat beside Fugaku.

"How was your stay?" Fugaku asked in a formal tone, which wasn't unusual for him. Even when around his family, Fugaku had never really one for acting informally.

"It was good." Sasuke responded monotonously.

A thought striked Sasuke and he turned his head to look out the back window where the black car was parked across from them. The window was now rolled up, but Sasuke could still see the man inside with his head turned in their direction.

Fugaku noticed his son staring at something from outside and looked out his window to see what it was before looking back at Sasuke.

"What is it?"

Sasuke gave the black car one last look before turning away.

"It's nothing, let's just go."

Fugaku regarded his son sceptically but decided not to pry and instead focused on reversing out of the parking spot.

The rain began to fall, dotting the window screen with occasional droplets of water.

Figuring that he should probably text his mum to let her know that he had been picked up, Sasuke pulled his phone out of his pocket and as he did, he caught his father scowling into the rear view mirror. Confused, Sasuke subtly glanced behind him out the back window and saw the black car pulling out of its parking spot and driving off down the other end of the road. Sasuke looked back at his father to find that Fugaku was no longer looking the mirror but at the road ahead, his expression looking much more severe than Sasuke would have liked.

For the rest of the ride, Sasuke was unable to quell the growing feeling of unease. Like there was something not quite right going on.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke was in his room, crouching on the floor in front of his wardrobe, transferring the last of his clothes into a box that already contained most of his clothing, while his cats, Denka and Hina, roamed around his room curiously investigating the many boxes containing his personal belongings that were littered across his now bare bedroom.

"Sasuke!" Sasuke's head jerked up when he heard is father calling his name.

"Yes?"

"Have you finished packing yet?"

"I'm nearly finished." Sasuke replied.

"Make it quick, we need to be gone by one o'clock."

"Yes father." Sasuke mumbled in reply as he folded the last of his shirts and placed it with the others in the box and then clicked the lid into place and then pushed it across the floor to sit with the rest of the boxes.

Today Sasuke and his father were moving.

They were moving to a small town called 'Konoha' where Fugaku as the Chief of police for the 'Konoha Police Force'.

When Fugaku and Mikoto separated, Mikoto had been the one to move out while Fugaku kept the house.

However it hadn't been because Fugaku had forced her - like some people tended to assume when it was explained to them – but because Mikoto herself had wished to move out.

Her reasoning was that she could not bear to live in a house that held too many happy memories and painful reminders.

Fugaku had agreed to his wife's request and stayed in their house while Mikoto moved into an apartment that her older sister Uruchi had helped pay for.

However over the weeks that followed since Mikoto moved out, Fugaku had started to adopt Mikoto's interpretation of the old house and as had Sasuke for that matter. Just being inside his childhood home reminded him of all the fun times he had experienced in it and being reminded of a life that was much better and easier than the life he was currently living, was just too painful, not only for Sasuke, but for Fugaku as well.

Finally Fugaku had had enough and after running it over briefly with Mikoto, they put the house up for sale.

Luckily, their house was located in a nice quiet neighbourhood and the house itself provided lots of space and comfort it was an ideal home to raise a family, so it didn't take too long for the house to be sold.

Then there had also been the issue of what school Sasuke was going to attend. He refused to return to his old school, which was filled with fake two faced 'friends' that had immediately started whispering and spreading rumours behind his back as soon as it was found out that his parents were separating. Some of the rumours consisted of his mother having an affair with some foreign man she had met while covering a story and that that was why she was travelling to Russia, so that she could meet with him and elope.

The previous week a boy from Sasuke's science class had approached him at the supermarket and had even had the nerve to ask Sasuke what his mother's type was and that he could provide her some great 'comfort'.

The boy had left with a bloody nose and a very clear threat that if he ever even thought of Sasuke's mother in a way that you wouldn't describe to a five-year-old he would find himself incapable of providing anyone 'comfort' ever again.

The whole situation was ridiculous and Sasuke was fed up with it. No one had the right to make up such ridiculous and vulgar rumours about his family.

So that's why Fugaku had enrolled Sasuke in the 'Konoha Academy'. Fugaku was quite familiar with the principal of the school and had managed to secure Sasuke a place in the school and he would be starting there on Monday.

Sighing, Sasuke lifted his arms over his head and stretched. Now that he was finally finished packing his things, Sasuke decided to head downstairs and get something to eat before they left since he was feeling a little hungry after only having eaten one slice of toast this morning.

After looking around what was left in the pantry and found a half empty punnet of cherry tomatoes. By the time Sasuke had finished them off, the movers had arrived to shift the furniture into their truck. Sasuke helped his father load what they could, into the boot of his car and into the backseat, but the rest had to go into the mover's truck.

While Fugaku was busy, fitting his tool boxes into the boot, Sasuke was getting the cats into the individual carrying cages.

Hina went into hers calmly and quietly, Denka on the other hand was a bit more unwilling to be put into the confined space. The male cat hissed and yowled as Sasuke tried to push the aggravated feline into the cage, but finally he managed to get Denka into the cage with only a bleeding finger and scratches on his wrist to show for his efforts.

After stowing the cat's away in the backseat, they were finally ready to head off.

Sasuke got into the front seat beside his father and immediately put his ear phones in, allowing his music to drown out all other noises as his father started the car.

At some point during the drive Sasuke had fallen asleep. When he woke up, his music was still playing dully in his ears and he felt a chilling coldness against his cheek. His eyes slowly fluttered open and he found his cheek pressed against the car window where water droplets trailed hastily down the glass from outside. Sasuke blinked a couple of times to clear his blurry vision and allowed himself to stretch as much as his seatbelt would allow.

When he looked out the window, he saw that it was pouring rain and the windscreen wipers were tirelessly moving over the clear surface.

"We should be nearly there."

Sasuke turned his head and blinked lazily at his father, who sat up straight and alert, both hands gripping the steering wheel and his hard onyx eyes staring intently on the road ahead of him (or at least what he could see of it, since the heavy rain wasn't giving much of a clear view).

Sasuke sighed and leaned his head back against the head rest.

"How long was I asleep?"

"About an hour." Fugaku Uchiha answered his son.

Sasuke gave his father a quizzical look. "Then shouldn't we have been there by then?" He questioned. "We're still on the freeway."

"There was a bit of traffic build up on the main road and then I needed to stop for petrol a short while ago."

So that would explain why his father's hair looked damp and why he wasn't wearing the grey coat he had been wearing when they left.

"What was the cause of the traffic?" Sasuke asked, pulling out his phone from his coat pocket and turning it off upon seeing it had a low battery.

"The rain was coming down pretty hard and seemed like a truck must have lost control because it tipped over in a ditch, and police had to hold up the traffic for a while so the ambulance could get in to see to the driver."

Sasuke nodded, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn. It was amazing, he had been asleep for a whole hour and he was still tired.

"You seem tired." Fugaku observed. "Didn't you get much sleep last night?"

Sasuke sighed. "Not really."

For some odd reason, Sasuke had had some difficulty in falling asleep last night, he had spent a measurable amount of time tossing and turning in his bed, his head a mess of thoughts and memories.

It had been like that for six months now; he had prescribed medicine that he had been taking since he had nearly collapsed at school from exhaustion but he had made the decision not to take any last night, since he had felt pretty tired and assumed that he would be able to fall asleep on his own. Obviously he'd been wrong.

Sasuke's mind was still a little hazy with sleep, but he was pretty sure they spent another ten minutes on the free-way and after a while, through the downpour of rain he managed to spot a tall sign in on the side of the road and in big black letters it read, 'WELCOME TO KONOHA'.

Sasuke had been to Konoha a couple of times when he was a kid and he and his brother would accompany Fugaku to work.

It used to be Sasuke's favourite thing when he was young, getting to go to work with his father, he remembered the ecstatic feeling he would get whenever he walked through the doors of the police station and whenever he saw his father take charge and the way others who worked there would show their respect and admiration for their captain and Sasuke would think 'that's my dad.', with pride and admiration bubbling inside him.

The rain had started to lighten to somewhat as they drove into the town. There weren't a lot of people in the streets, which was to be expected on a rainy day like today.

They drove past a cafe and Sasuke saw a group of girls chatting to one another, each with a drink in their hand and an umbrella held over their heads and children playing soccer on a muddy oval as they passed it, laughing and enjoying playing out in the rain. Sasuke idly wondered if their parents knew they were out there and if that had been him at their age, he would have gotten a scolding from both his parents.

All in all, it wasn't a bad town. It was small and humble, filled with kind hearted and hard working people.

It didn't take too much longer for them to reach their new house. Fugaku parked the SUV in the driveway, just in front of the garage.

Sasuke undid the seatbelt and stepped out of the car not minding the rain that greeted him as soon as he did. Sasuke stood there for a moment to get a good look at the house.

It was large, double story and looked quite old. The roof looked tattered with some of the tiles missing and there was grass in the gutter. The bricks were faded and lawn was obviously dying. It wasn't the most appealing house in Sasuke's opinion, but his mother had always taught him never to judge a book by his cover.

"Sasuke don't just stand there or you'll catch a cold." Fugaku said lifting his coat over his head to shield against the rain as he walked briskly towards the front porch.

Sasuke pulled his hood over his head and opened the door to the backseat and pulled out the cats' carrying cages and then followed his father to the front door.

Fugaku had already opened the door by the time Sasuke had reached him and was stepping inside.

It was dark and cold inside. The hallway they were standing in was narrow with a floor of hardwood. Fugaku walked towards the end of the hallway and disappeared through the doorway at the end. Sasuke set, the carrying cages on the floor. He opened up Denka's first because he knew that the male cat would be edgy from having spent so long in the hated cage and as soon as he opened the small door, the fluffy tailed cat came bolting out and down the hallway. When he opened up Hina's the gentle cream coloured feline came padding out, stretched and yawned before turning around to give Sasuke's leg an affectionate rub.

Sasuke pushed the cages, up against the walls. He would put them away properly later, for now he wanted to explore the new house.

To the left of the hallway there was an archway that lead into a spacious living room where the walls were painted a dull gold. Another archway lead Sasuke into an empty room, which was connected to the kitchen where Fugaku stood behind the counter checking his phone.

Once Sasuke had checked out every room downstairs, he moved on to upstairs. There were three bedrooms, two ensuites and one single bathroom.

It was definitely a nice house with quite a bit of space which was good, seeing as Sasuke wasn't overly fond of cramped spaces.

"Sasuke, where are you?" He heard his father calling from downstairs.

"Up here." Sasuke called back as he made his way to the top of the staircase.

"Come down here and start getting your things out of the car, I need to head over to the station soon."

"Alright."

The movers were already moving in some of the lighter pieces of furniture when Sasuke made it downstairs.

The rain had stopped to a light drizzle when he stepped outside and walked over to his father's car. He opened up the boot and started lifting out boxes containing his belongings. As Sasuke stacked to boxes and started to lift them, he caught sight of a man standing outside the front porch of a shabby looking house just opposite to them.

The man had a head of long black hair and was dressed in a simple plain white shirt and torn black jeans and had a cigarette raised to his lips while. He appeared to be looking at something to the right, then he took the cigarette away from his mouth and blew out some smoke and turned his head in Sasuke's direction and caught his stare.

Sasuke tensed slightly a little embarrassed at having been caught looking at the man, but the man simply smirked and raised his hand in a wave.

Sasuke on the other hand made no attempt to acknowledge the man and instead carried on with lifting the boxes and walking back to the front door.

Fugaku stood on the veranda his arms folded over his chest and a scowl set on his face and it didn't take long for Sasuke to realise that his father's scowl was actually directed at the long-haired man across the road from them.

"Do you know him?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"We've met on occasion." Fugaku said with a hard edge to his voice that made Sasuke think that whatever the occasion was it hadn't been a good one.

Fugaku turned and walked back in through the front door and Sasuke took one last look at the man who looked straight back at him, before going inside.

Once the movers finished getting all the furniture and everything inside, Fugaku payed the man for their service and then prepared to head off to the police station while Sasuke started to unpack in his new room.

"I shouldn't be at the station for more than twenty minutes." Fugaku said as he stood in Sasuke's doorway watching his son unpack. "I'll bring home something to eat, what would you like?"

Sasuke considered it for a moment before shrugging. "Pizza maybe? I'm not fussed."

Fugaku nodded. "Finish unpack and then take a break, you look tired."

"I will."

With that said, Fugaku left. Sasuke heard the front door close and a moment later he heard the car starting and pulling out of the drive way.

Sasuke continued unpack his things for another five minutes before he decided to take a break and continue packing after his father got home.

With a deep sigh Sasuke lay down on his bed and stared up at the white ceiling. Sasuke took the time to ponder over a few things such as the new house, his parents, the new school. There were so many things to think about and Sasuke was constantly thinking about them and sometimes he just wished that he some sort of off switch so that he couldn't think about anything at all.

Denka and Hina soon jumped onto the bed to keep him company. Denka made himself comfortable at Sasuke's feet where he began to lick himself while Hina jumped up onto the headboard and occupied herself with looking at a bird outside the window, her tail swishing back and forth.

Sasuke's eyes moved from the ceiling to beige coloured walls and took a moment to study a barely noticeable crack in the top corner.

Finally his eyes came to rest on the photo frame he had placed on top of his wardrobe. It was a picture of his family taken a few years ago when Sasuke was only eight.

He lay there for a while just gazing at the photo, before finally he got up from the bed and walked over to the wardrobe and took the photograph into his hands.

The photo had been taken at what appeared to be a park. Mikoto was kneeling on the ground with her arms around a young Sasuke, both with identical smiles on their faces. Itachi stood next to Sasuke and his mother with his hand placed on top of Sasuke's head while Fugaku knelt down behind the three of them, one hand placed on Itachi's shoulder and the other on his wife's.

'So happy,' Sasuke thought. They were so happy back then; their life was full of smiles and laughter.

'I wonder how much different everything could have been...' He kept his eyes fixed on the smiling face of his older brother. 'If you hadn't left.'

Fugaku returned home around six o'clock with pizza for dinner. Sasuke and Fugaku mostly at their dinner in silence and after that they both retreated into their own rooms where Fugaku worked on completing some paper work he had picked up from his office while Sasuke worked on setting up his computer. Sasuke stayed up until about eleven thirty before he went to bed, this time making sure he took his pills.

After Sasuke went to bed, Fugaku stepped onto the balcony of his bedroom and was greeted by the chilly night air. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up before sticking it in his mouth. Fugaku didn't smoke often, he had done so more frequently before his boys were born but he always had the occasional smoke to help clear up his head.

He leaned over to the railing and blew out some smoke as he looked surveyed the view of houses and lights in the distance.

Rolling the cigarette between his fingers, Fugaku thought over everything he had done so far. Separating from Mikoto had been a challenging ordeal after so many years of marriage, but it couldn't be helped neither of them were happy with each other anymore, not since six months ago when their world was turned upside down. Fugaku's chest still constricted at the thought of it and sometimes he even found it difficult to breathe properly.

And then there was Sasuke, a confused fifteen-year-old caught up in the middle of everything and forced to move and adjust to a new town with his father. But it couldn't be helped. This was the way things were and everything Fugaku had done up until now, including re-locating himself and his son had all been in Sasuke's best interest.

Fugaku sighed and stuck the cigarette back between his lips, taking a deep inhale and rubbing at his left temple.

He just hoped that this was enough.

Enough to protect his son.


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning:** Chapter contains swearing towards the end.

* * *

"Sasuke... Saaasukeee..."

Sasuke woke up to the sound of his name being called out and incessant poking to his cheek.

"Time to wake up sleepy head."

Sasuke groaned tiredly and lazily swatted at what was poking at his cheek before turning over and burying his face into his pillow.

"Now, now is that any way to treat your dear cousin?"

Consciousness started to take its full effect and at the sound of the familiar voice, Sasuke turned his head and looked up into the grinning face of Obito Uchiha.  
"What the hell are you doing in my room?" Sasuke demanded grabbing the spare pillow and shoving it into his cousin's face.  
Obito chuckled and pulled the pillow away from his face.

"Your dad let me in, asked me to keep an eye on you while he went to work."

"Why would he ask that?" Sasuke asked genuinely confused. He had never known his father to ask anyone to watch over him since he was a kid.

Obito shrugged, sitting on the side of the bed. "Probably to make sure you don't burn the house down?"

"Hn. I'm not a kid I don't need a babysitter."

"Yeah, yeah sure thing 'kid' now hurry up and get out of bed, I'm making scrambled eggs!"

"And you're worried about me burning the house down?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I'm not completely helpless in the kitchen, I do live on my own and I man has to eat."

"Hn."

Obito walked out of the room closing the door behind him. Only a second later did the door open again and Obito popped his head in to look at Sasuke – who was still lying in his bed.

"And if you're not up and dressed in ten minutes I will come up here and drag you down by the hair if I have to."

"Alright, well hurry up and go then." Sasuke grumbled.

Once Obito left, Sasuke got out of bed and changed from his grey pyjama bottoms to a pair of jeans and an old white shirt before leaving his room and heading downstairs into the kitchen.

The smell of eggs and slightly burnt bread circulated the air and Sasuke entered the kitchen to find Obito pulling two blackened pieces of toast out of the toaster and cursing when it burnt his fingers.

Sasuke took a seat at the table in front of the plate with scrambled eggs, bacon and even a few slices of tomato.

Obito came to join him with his own plate of eggs, bacon and burnt toast just as Sasuke began digging into his own breakfast.

Sasuke started with the eggs first, scooping a small amount onto his fork with the assistance of the butter knife before putting it in his mouth.

"Sooo," Obito said with a barely contained grin, "how is it?"

Sasuke chewed his eggs for a moment or so before swallowing. They were actually quite nice, not that Sasuke was too surprised. When his cousin wasn't setting off the smoke alarm with his cooking, Obito's food was actually quite tasty.

Not that Sasuke would ever give his cousin that kind of satisfaction.

"I suppose it's edible."

Obito's grin turned into a frown and his shoulders slumped, obviously disheartened by Sasuke's comment.

"_Edible_? Is that really all you have to say?"

Sasuke nodded while chewing on another mouthful of eggs.

Obito rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically before starting on his own breakfast.

"So what do you have planned for today?" Obito asked Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged. "Probably do some unpacking and I have to go into town and pick up my school books."

"Ah, riveting stuff."

"You have no idea." Sasuke sniffed sarcastically. "How long do you plan on staying here?"

"Dunno," Obito said grinning, "I've got nothing better to do today."

"How about work?"

"Nah, your dad told me I don't need to be in until late."

"Hn." Sasuke took a bite out of one of the tomato slices.

After breakfast, Sasuke helped clean the dishes while Obito spoke on the phone to one of his work colleagues. Sasuke had a quick shower and then afterwards came downstairs and joined Obito in the living room where he was watching an episode of _'Top Gear'_ and laughing loudly when one of the men on the screen (Richard Hammond if Sasuke remembered correctly) backed his truck into the front of Jeremy Clarkson's truck, causing the latter to begin shouting his outrage at the damage to his vehicle.

Soon after it was time for Obito to leave and head off to work.

"Okay, I'm heading off now, Sasuke." Obito grabbed his keys and headed towards the door. "Is there anything you need before I go?"

"Yes, actually." Sasuke answered from where he sat on the couch with a sleeping Hina curled up in his lap.

"What is it?"

"Can you give me a ride into town?" Sasuke asked.

"Why do you need a ride into town?"

"I figured I could get some lunch since there isn't really enough food here and there's no more cat food and by tonight all they'll be doing is meowing and driving me crazy." Hina stretched out a bit in Sasuke's lap and purred loudly.

Obito chuckled. "This is why I'm satisfied with just a goldfish; if you don't feed them they don't make a sound."

"Yeah, so are you going to drive me into town or not?"

"Hm, I don't see why not, go get whatever you need and meet me in the car."

Sasuke nodded, picking up and moving a disgruntled Hina from his lap as he got up off the couch to go get his phone and wallet from his room before joining Obito in the passenger seat of his red Honda. As Obito pulled out of the driveway, Sasuke looked out of his window at the dilapidated old house across from his and saw that the pale man with the long dark hair was standing in the front yard. He was tipping a bag of what Sasuke could only assume to be rubbish into the garbage bin. Once he had stuffed the bag into the bin and closed the lid he looked up and once again met Sasuke's gaze. It kind of freaked Sasuke out how the man had so quickly looked from the rubbish tin to Sasuke, as if the guy somehow knew that it was Sasuke. His thin lips stretched into a wiry grin and he waved as the car drove past.

Once they were in the main street Obito dropped Sasuke off a couple of blocks away from the cafe, purposely driving past the nearest McDonalds since Sasuke had no taste for the food there.

"Thanks for the lift." Sasuke said stepping out of the car.

"No problem, you got enough money with you?" Obito inquired.

"Yeah."

"Good, because I wouldn't have leant you any if you didn't." Obito teased and Sasuke rolled his eyes in response.

"And you know where the supermarket is don't you?"

"Yes, I do know where it is, goodbye." With that said Sasuke closed the car door and began walking down the street towards the cafe, waving when Obito drove past and honked his horn.

At the cafe Sasuke bought himself a sausage roll along with a bagel and a bottle of water. Instead of eating in the cafe, Sasuke decided that he'd take a short walk around the block first.

The sky was cloudy and the air was chilly but that didn't stop Sasuke from taking a seat at a park bench that was opposite the empty playground. However as Sasuke started eating his sausage role, he noticed something in one of the big blue tunnels on the playground that made him realise that maybe it wasn't as empty as he thought.

From the entrance of the tunnel Sasuke could see what –after careful scrutiny – was actually a head of blonde hair and if he listened closely, Sasuke could also hear what sounded like snoring.

Was there someone sleeping in there?

With his curiosity piqued, Sasuke stood up from the bench and cautiously approached the playground.

Drawing closer to the tunnel, Sasuke's suspicions were proven right as it turned out that there was someone sleeping in there. A boy with unruly blonde hair was fast asleep and snoring consistently. He was dressed in a pair of baggy brown pants and an oversized orange jacket.  
Sasuke watched the sleeping boy with an odd fascination.  
Why was this boy sleeping in the middle of a playground tunnel during the day? Sasuke figured he should probably wake him up in case children actually did decide to come play here or before someone else found him and decided it might be a good idea to steal any of the personal belongings this boy might have on him.  
Sasuke carefully placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and started shaking it.  
"Hey," Sasuke called out quietly to the snoozing boy.  
There was a hitch in the boy's snoring and he raised a tanned hand to wipe at his nose before mumbling something unintelligible. Sasuke grew impatient at how long it was taking for this boy to wake up and gave up trying wake him up gently.  
"Wake up will you." Sasuke growled with a hard shake to the boy's shoulder.  
The blonde haired boy's body jolted as he made something between a snorting and choking sound. He breathed in deeply, smacking his lips together in a leisurely manner and raised his head from where it was rested in the crook of his arm. He looked around dazedly with half open blue eyes before finally resting his eyes on Sasuke and giving him a confused look.  
"Uhh..."  
"What are you doing sleeping in a playground?" Sasuke asked kneeling down in the bark around the playground.  
"Hm... Uh well..." The boy started still shaking off remnants of sleep and rubbing at his eyes. "I was up all night and... This seemed like a comfortable enough place to sleep."  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You serious?"

Had this guy been drinking all night or something and then passed out here? It didn't seem like a completely unreasonable explanation.

The boy sat up and frowned at him.

"What? You never seen a guy sleep in a playground tunnel before?"

"No." Sasuke replied bluntly and without hesitation.

"Well now you have."

"Hn."

The blonde boy manoeuvred himself in the tunnel so that he was sitting upright and his legs swung over the edge of the tunnel's entrance. Now that the boy was sitting up, Sasuke was also able to get a better look at the boy's face. It was tanned and dirty but what caught Sasuke's eyes were the three scars prominent of each cheek. Sasuke couldn't help but look at them, he had seen scars before and even had a few of his own but he had never encountered anyone with scars like this boys. They weren't scars of raised and puckered flesh but instead they looked like jagged dents in the skin. It almost looked like someone had grabbed a sharp object and carved the lines onto his face. It was a gruesome thought but that was what it reminded Sasuke of. Sasuke also noticed that the blonde boy hadn't seen Sasuke's curious gaze because he was too busy staring at the partially eaten sausage roll in Sasuke's hand wrapped up in the paper bag. He was looking at the food with such intense desire and focus that Sasuke felt like moving it from side to side just to see if the blonde's head would move along with it. His mouth was open and Sasuke even noticed a tiny bit of saliva tracking down the corner of his mouth.

"Do you want some?" Sasuke asked somewhat hesitantly holding the pastry to the boy.

The boy blinked and shook his head as if he had just been woken up from a trance.

"A-Are you serious?"

Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders and kept the paper bag containing the sausage roll held out to the blonde boy.

"Ah, thanks!" The blonde said cheerfully as he accepted the sausage roll and tore off a large portion of it for himself and began to devour it hungrily.

Sasuke eyed the boy strangely.

"Oh!" The boy spoke up as he was chewing. "I'm Naruto by the way."

He held out a hand to Sasuke and Sasuke hesitated in shaking the hand of the strange boy he just met sleeping in a playground, but when he looked at the stupid grin on the his face he decided that the boy seemed harmless enough and took the hand outstretched to him.

"Sasuke."

"Well then, nice to meet ya Sasuke!" Naruto beamed, swallowing the last bit of the sausage roll and then wiping the crumbs off of the corners of his mouth with his sleeve. "Ahh, boy that was good! I haven't had one of those in ages!"

"You're welcome." Sasuke muttered tucking away the bag with the remaining quarter of the pastry into his back pocket. "You said you were out all night, what were you doing?"

"Oh, well you see my dog's gone missing and I was up all night looking for him... Can I have some of that too?" Naruto asked suddenly pointing at the bottle of water in Sasuke's left hand.

Sasuke looked at the bottle of water and then raised an eyebrow at Naruto.

"Pleeeeasse!" Naruto begged childishly. "I'm so thirsty!"

Sasuke sighed. "Here." He tossed the bottle of water at the blonde kid.

Naruto caught the plastic bottle in his palms and then attempted to twist the lid open. _'Attempted'_ being the key word.

Sasuke watched as Naruto struggled to pull the cap free from the tip of the bottle. He found it oddly amusing when Naruto even started throw in a few muttered swear words but when the spiky-haired boy started using his teeth to aid him, Sasuke figured he should intervene.

"Here, give it to me." Sasuke offered holding out his hand.

Naruto took the bottle out of his mouth and begrudgingly handed it over to Sasuke, who didn't fail to notice that look of hurt pride on his face.

"I see you don't have much experience in opening water bottles do you?" Sasuke questioned as he undid the bottle cap with a lot more ease than Naruto had.

"Hmph!" Naruto's face went red with embarrassment and he snatched the now opened bottle from Sasuke's hand. "Well excuse me for preferring tap water."

"Hn."

Sasuke watched as the blonde gulped down great amounts of the clear liquid and Sasuke was honestly surprised, it was as if this boy had not had anything to drink for days. It was the same when Sasuke had given him some of the sausage roll and Naruto had gobbled it down in a matter of seconds as if he were some starving man.

When Naruto finally stopped drinking, he let out a long sigh and wiped away some of the water that had started to run down his chin.

"Thanks for that, man." Naruto stood up and took a moment to stretch his arms out over his head. "Well I better get going and start looking for my dog again, I'd rather not be out at night again, it's bloody freezing, ya know."

"Yes, I assume it would be."

"Yeah, well see ya 'round ... uh...?"

"Sasuke." Sasuke sighed.

"Sasuke!" Naruto flashed Sasuke a grin before heading off.

Sasuke rose from his place on the ground and watched Naruto's back as he walked away before Sasuke himself walked off in the other direction, deciding he should go to the supermarket and buy the cats their food.

* * *

It was pouring rain, but still the city streets were full and bustling with people.

One man dressed in a dark suit and holding black umbrella held above his head to keep him dry and a folder tucked under his other arm, made his way through the crowds of people with one destination in mind.

As he approached the steps to the grand hotel, he closed his umbrella having no further need for it and walked through the hotel's revolving door. He strode through the spacious lobby, making his way to the elevator and stepping inside one after a couple walked out shortly after. Once inside the small compartment he pressed the number eight button and the metal doors closed only a moment later (he didn't bother holding the doors open when a man and his family called out for him to hold it).

The grey-haired man tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator stop and trying to drown out the irritating elevator music in the process.

When the elevator finally came to a halt and opened its doors, the man adjusted the lapel of his suit and stepped out into the hallway. As he strode down the hallway, he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a small crumpled piece of paper with three numbers written crookedly on it in black pen.

The numbers were _810._

He walked passed all the different rooms with golden numbers clearly displayed on the doors.

_806, 807, 808... 810._

The man stood in front of the last door to the left and balled his hand into a fist and knocked harshly against the wooden surface.

"Who is it?" Came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Open the fucking door, Deidara." The man growled.

There was the sound of muffled laughter from the other side of the wooden barrier and then the sound of lock clicking and a chain rattling before the door finally opened to reveal a young man with long blonde hair tied up in a messy pony tail, only wearing a pair of jeans and an irritating smirk on his face.

"Finally made it huh, Hidan?"

"Tch." Hidan roughly pushed past Deidara as he entered the room.

The hotel room was spacious and flashy and smelt distinctly of tobacco and alcohol. It was also a bit messy, with paper and bear bottles and cans littered the floor and half naked woman laid passed out on one of the couches. The flat screen mounted on the wall was on showing a game of soccer being played but the sound was on mute. Instead the sound of '_ACDC' _could be heard playing from the stereo.

"Will you turn that shit off.?" Hidan growled. He wasn't all that partial to _'ACDC'._

"Oh hell no!" Deidara exclaimed bending down and picking up a can of beer from the coffee table and taking a sip. "I was left in charge here until the boss gets back and until that time my music shall reign supreme."

"Hmph, I suppose that would explain why the place is such a fucking mess and why there's a bloody whore passed out on the damn couch." Hidan gestured to the woman sprawled out on the couch in disgust.

"Wanna have a go?" Deidara smirked collapsing into the black leather couch. "She's here until ten and I already paid her."

"Like hell."

"Are ya sure about that, Hidan? You look like you have a lot of pent up frustration that could use some venting."

"I'll vent it on you, ya stupid little shi...!" Just as Hidan was about to approach the grinning Deidara with raised fists there was a knock on the door.

Hidan froze and Deidara sat bolt upright. They both knew it was.

"He's early." Deidara hissed, eyes darting from one side of the messy room to the next.

"Just get rid of the slut and we'll worry about the rest later." Hidan ordered and went to answer the door as Deidara hauled the passed out woman over his shoulder and carried her into the nearby bathroom.

Hidan opened the door to reveal a tall muscular man dressed in an all black suit, long black hair slicked back and a black kerchief wrapped around his mouth standing opposite him.

"Hey! Kakuzu, long time no see!" Hidan greeted the other man.

"Shut up, Hidan." Kakuzu said in a deep baritone voice as he walked passed Hidan and into the apartment.

"Asshole." Hidan muttered to himself.

With his hands in his pockets, Kakuzu surveyed his cluttered apartment with scrutiny and disapproval swimming in his emerald eyes.

"Where's Deidara?" Kakuzu asked.

"I'm here boss!" Deidara called out rushing into the living room where Hidan and Kakuzu stood. "Sorry, I just needed to take care of something."

"Hmph, Deidara turn off that infernal racket and Hidan lock the door and close blinds."

"Yes sir."

Kakuzu moved to sit in one of the leather couches, kicking away some of the trash on the floor on his way while Hidan and Deidara moved around the room to do as they were told.

Once the blinds were closed, the door was locked and the music and the television had both been turned off, Deidara and Hidan sat on the couch opposite their boss.

"Now then, Hidan did you find any information of their whereabouts?" Kakuzu questioned.

"You bet your ass I did." Hidan said smugly grabbing the cream-coloured folder he had brought with him and handing it over to Kakuzu.

Kakuzu opened the folder and quickly skimmed through the contents of the folder and then hummed in approval.

"Konoha, Fugaku's moved him and his brat to Konoha." Kakuzu mused aloud. "Are you sure this is valid information Hidan?"

"Of course I'm sure; I got a guy watching them."

"I see, so you got this information from him?"

Hidan nodded.

"And he's in Konoha with them right at this very moment?"

"Fuck yeah."

From underneath his kerchief, Kakuzu let a pleased smile spread across his lips.

"That idiot, Fugaku. He thinks he's safe by moving to a new town but little does he know we have a spy right under his nose." Kakuzu chuckled.

"Apparently his wife is also in Russia at the moment." Deidara added.

"Not his wife anymore from what I've gathered." Kakuzu stated. "They're separated and impending divorce. He obviously doesn't care for her anymore so that means she isn't a target."

"So we're just going for the boy then?" Deidara asked.

"Yes." Kakuzu affirmed staring down at one of the photos in the folder; a close up image of a raven-haired boy standing in a driveway holding a box in his arms.

It was the youngest son of Fugaku Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha.

_This is perfect_. Kakuzu thought gleefully. Everything was going perfectly.

Yes, they had a hit a little bump in the road when they had lost track of their whereabouts but now that they had found them again, Kakuzu couldn't be more pleased with the way thing were progressing.

_It won't be long now... just you wait, Fugaku._

His revenge was at hand.

* * *

So... how was Obito? How was Naruto? How was Hidan?... Actually how was the whole chapter? Leave a review and tell me what you think? :)

There will be more mysteries to be revealed and secrets explained later on, such as the identity of this person spying on Fugaku and Sasuke and Kakuzu's motives or revenge.


	4. Chapter 4

On Monday morning, Sasuke was up early and ready for his first day at Konoha Academy. Fugaku had already left for work by the time Sasuke got up, but he at least left a note for him saying that if he needed to he could always call Obito to give him a lift to school. Sasuke found it odd that his father would leave a note saying such a thing. Fugaku had always taught and encouraged his sons to be independent for as long as Sasuke could remember, always encouraging Sasuke to try to do things himself and to not rely too heavily on other people. Still somewhat confused, Sasuke discarded that note, opting to just walk to school instead of bothering Obito with coming to pick him. It was likely that if Sasuke did ring Obito, he would be late in coming to get him anyway. After eating his breakfast and changing into his school uniform and packing his bag, he left for school.

As Sasuke was passing his neighbour's house, he saw that said neighbour (a kind old lady with an affinity for cats) was talking at the front door with somebody. They seemed to finish up their conversation just as Sasuke was passing by and when the person turned around to walk off of the front step of the old lady's home did Sasuke realise that it was the strange man that lived across the road from Sasuke.

When the man looked up and noticed Sasuke he smirked in a way that sent a small shiver down Sasuke's spine.

"Well now, if it isn't Sasuke." The man said as he approached Sasuke on the sidewalk. "Heading off to school are you?"

Sasuke scowled at the man in front of him.

"How do you know my name?"

This was the first time Sasuke had seen this man up close. His long black hair was quite greasy and noticeably so in the morning sunlight and his skin was much paler than Sasuke's, so much so that it was almost white. He also had quite a defined jaw line, covered by some dark stubble and as usual he was dressed in a grubby dark shirt with a flannel jacket over it and pair of dirty ripped jeans. He was also holding a small square package and an envelope in one hand.

The man's smile widened. "Ah yes, we've never been properly introduced, I'm Orochimaru a former acquaintance of your father's."

Yes, Sasuke did recall his father mentioning to Sasuke that he had met this man before. And just as he had then, Sasuke thought that may not have exactly been the best of acquaintances if what this man said was true.

"I see." Was all Sasuke said sounding unimpressed.

"Well, I was just collecting some mail; it seems it got mixed up." Orochimaru said weighing the package in his hand. "Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last."

"Hn."

Orochimaru chuckled and Sasuke definitely wouldn't say it was the friendliest chuckle he had ever heard. In fact, hearing it made Sasuke feel more uncomfortable than he was already feeling in the strange man's presence.

"You certainly are Fugaku's son, so stoic and antisocial."

"Well you know what they say; the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?"

This time Orochimaru outwardly laughed and Sasuke made a mental note to scratch what he had thought about Orochimaru's chuckle making him feel extra uncomfortable, because his laugh was a whole different story.

"Well at least you have a sense of humour that your father never seemed to have."

Orochimaru placed a rough hand on Sasuke's shoulder as he moved to walk passed him and Sasuke didn't even bother to contain his flinch at the contact and he was sure that Orochimaru noticed this as he saw amusement reflected in those amber eyes of his and his lip twitch upward.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't reply as the man walked away, he simply watched him do so from over his shoulder before he too decided to carry on his way.

Not noticing the amber eyes that followed him.

After walking through the front gates of Konoha Academy, he headed straight to the administration office for his meeting with the principal.

The principal was a kind old man with grey hair and a short grey beard named Mr. Sarutobi. They exchanged introductions where Sasuke was also given his new timetable and the old man made a few comments such as saying how nice it was to finally meet Fugaku's son and how he was the spitting image of his mother. Afterwards, Mr. Sarutobi escorted Sasuke through the rest of the school.

Konoha Academy was by no means an extravagant high school. It was nothing more than average. But at least it wasn't some scummy school with hooligan students and good for nothing teachers that wouldn't give a crap even if they saw their students having sex underneath the desk.

Sasuke suddenly felt very grateful that he didn't have to go back to his old school.

After showing Sasuke to his locker, where he put his bag away, they stopped their brief tour when they arrived at a classroom where Mr. Sarutobi explained would be Sasuke's new homeroom before knocking on the door.

A handsome man who looked to be in his mid-thirties with a head of thick silver hair and a laid back expression on his face opened the door. It also took Sasuke a moment to realise that the man had a faint straight scar starting from below his left eye and then cutting through a fine silver eyebrow and Sasuke found himself growing curious as to how he got such a scar.

"Good morning sir, what can I do for you?" The silver-haired man asked pleasantly.

"Good morning, Kakashi," Mr Sarutobi replied before turning to Sasuke. "Sasuke this is, Mr. Hatake, he will be your new homeroom teacher. Kakashi, this is your new student, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke noticed something akin to a twinkle in the teacher's dark eyes at the mention of his name and his mouth turned up into a pleasant smile as he offered his hand to Sasuke.

"Nice to meet you Sasuke, I've actually heard a lot about you from your cousin Obito."

Sasuke blinked in surprise as he shook Mr. Hatake's hand.

"You know Obito?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Oh yes! Childhood friends we are. I'm actually kind of hurt that he never mentioned me before." Mr. Hatake made a mock hurt expression.

"Hn."

"Well Sasuke, I'll be leaving you in Mr. Hatake's capable hands." Mr. Sarutobi interjected. "And welcome once again Sasuke; I hope you enjoy your time here." Mr. Sarutobi gave Sasuke one last warm smile that reminded Sasuke of how a grandfather would smile at their grandchild, before he walked down the hallway with his hands clasped behind his back, leaving Sasuke alone with Mr. Hatake.

"Well come on in, Sasuke." Mr. Hatake gestured for Sasuke to enter the classroom as he held open the door for him.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets he walked past Mr. Hatake and into the classroom filled with students sitting at their desks and talking to one another. However once Sasuke walked in most of the talking stopped and half the classroom had their eyes on Sasuke (the female half of the class that is).

"Alright class, listen up!" Mr. Hatake spoke up as he took his place at the front of the room and bringing Sasuke up to stand next to him. "This is our new student, Sasuke Uchiha." He clapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "He will be joining us for the remainder of the year. I would also like to know if there would be anyone willing to stick around Sasuke for today and show him to his classes?"

Sasuke watched nonchalantly as quite a few hands shot up into the air (again most of them were girls)

_Brilliant. _Sasuke thought derisively.

While this school at least seemed much better than his old one, it seemed that one thing didn't change at all and that was Sasuke's unique capability to attract any girl simply by standing within a few meters of them.

Mr. Hatake chuckled lightly from beside Sasuke and he resisted the urge to mutter his annoyance.

"Alright let's see here... hum... Sakura!" Sasuke saw Mr. Hatake point at a beaming girl with short pink hair and wearing a pair of darker pink glasses sitting in the front row next to a blonde haired girl who was looking just as dejected as the rest of the girls in the classroom.

"Sakura, c'mon up here." Mr. Hatake beckoned.

Sakura nodded excitedly as she hopped up from her chair and quickly made her way to stand before Sasuke at the front of the class (nearly tripping on the way)

"Sasuke, this here is our class captain, Sakura Haruno." Mr. Hatake introduced them. "She'll be your tour guide for the rest of the day and show you to all your classes."

"Nice to meet you, Sasuke!" the pink haired girl chirped, smile impossibly wide as she stared at Sasuke unblinkingly and held her hand out to him.

"Yeah, you too." Sasuke replied lightly grasping her outstretched hand and not failing to notice the way the blush in her cheeks intensified.

"Good, now that introductions are done, why don't you take a seat up the back next to Choji, Sasuke?" Mr. Hatake said pointing out the spare seat down the back next to a chubby brown-haired boy who was quite obviously sneaking chips into his mouth. But for some reason, Mr. Hatake didn't bother to acknowledge it.

"Now, I want you all to be nice to Sasuke and make him feel welcome." Mr. Hatake addressed the rest of the class as Sasuke made his way to the back to sit in his allocated seat. "Because if you don't..."

The entire class shuddered.

When homeroom ended, students piled out into the hallway to head to their classes.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke paused and turned around when he heard the sound of his name being called out in the noisy hallway. He saw Sakura was pushing past the throng of students trying to get to him.

"Ah, thanks for waiting!" She beamed once she reached him. "So, what class do you have now?"

Sasuke pulled out the sheet of paper his timetable was printed on and held it out for Sakura to get a look at as well.

He wasn't actually sure what subject he had now. The classes were divided up into two columned boxes with a label up the top of each one reading out _Week One _and _Week Two._

Sakura leaned close to him and inspected his timetable for a moment or so. "Okay so it's week one this week so you have... History!"

"Hn." Sasuke saw that she was indeed correct and he had history first up.

"Alright, follow me and I'll show you where it is."

Doing so, Sasuke followed Sakura as she led the way through the crowds of students.

"What about you, don't you need to get to class?" Sasuke inquired as they made their way down the stair well.

"Oh no that's alright! Mr. Hatake wrote me a note excusing me for being late to my classes for the rest of the day."

"A-huh."

It wasn't a long walk to get to the building where Sasuke was supposed to have his History class. It was actually in the building just across from the one they were in on the second level.

"Okay, here you are." Sakura announced proudly as they came to a stop outside a classroom door.

"Thank you." Sasuke said to the girl.

Sakura blushed lightly and her green eyes dropped to her feat in embarrassment.

"Oh-ah... i-it was no problem really. I, uh... I'll see you later, Sasuke!" Sakura stammered, waving goodbye to him as she rushed down the hallway before he entered the classroom.

History was an interesting enough subject for Sasuke. Their teacher, Mr. Sarutobi (the son of the principal) gave Sasuke a thorough run down of what they had been learning about in the class. They were currently studying the topic of the _First World War_ and were expected to write an essay on it in a month's time. Sasuke had also met a few new students. A bespectacled girl with bright red hair named Karin who stayed glued to his side, a boy named Kiba Inuzuka who had an obsession with dogs and kept showing Sasuke pictures of his dog, Akamaru and Hinata Hyuga, an introverted dark-haired girl. Sasuke would have to say that out of all the girls he had met, he liked Hinata the best, simply because she didn't fawn over him as much as Karin and the other girls in their class did. In fact, at some stage during the class, he could've sworn that Karin pulled out her phone and took a picture of him, but she vehemently denied it when he asked her.

When class ended and Sasuke stepped out into the yard with his lunch, which consisted of an apple and a muesli bar, he was immediately greeted with an arm around his shoulders and when he looked up to see who it was that had invaded his much beloved personal space, he saw that it was a boy with chin length, white hair and violet eyes. A much taller and muscular boy with thick orange hair and tan skin stood next to him offering Sasuke a warm smile.

"Hey there!" The boy grinned toothily.

"Hey." Sasuke muttered lowly scowling at the boy and removing the arm that was around him.

"So you're the new kid, huh?" The boy asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Hm, nothing really just..." The white-haired boy fished around in his pants pocket and pulled out an iphone and started tapping on the screen with his thumb before turning it to face Sasuke. "Just that you seem to be quite popular with the ladies."

What Sasuke was looking at on this boy's phone screen was a picture of himself, sitting in class and looking down at the open textbook on his desk.

Underneath was the caption: _'Hoolyy shiiit! Look wat is sitting nxt to me right now in history class! It's the new kid and HOT DAMN is he FIIINE! 3 3'._

Sasuke _was _right; Karin had taken a damn photo of him when they were in class. And she had even posted it!

"Yeesh! I know Karin's into boys and all but I've never seen her get this excited over a guy." The boy smirked at Sasuke.

Sasuke scowled at him but the boy just held out his hand to Sasuke.

"The name's Suigestu." He introduced. "And this here is Jugo." He jabbed a finger at the tall boy standing next to him. "He's actually a year older than us."

"Sasuke." Sasuke replied shaking Suigetsu's offered hand.

"Sasuke, eh? What do ya think, Jugo?" Suigetsu once again placed his arm around Sasuke (much to his annoyance). "Is he really that pretty to get all the girls in this school into a hype?"

Sasuke growled in annoyance and Jugo chuckled.

"Leave him alone Suigetsu, you don't want to scare him on his first day of school."

"Ah alright, I'll go easy on ya." Suigetsu relented and let Sasuke have his personal space back. "Why don't you come eat with us, Sasuke?"

Sasuke pondered this for a moment but decided that he might as well take Suigetsu up on his offer since he had nowhere else to go.

"Sure."

"Alright! Follow us pretty boy." Suigetsu once again slung his arm around Sasuke's shoulders and began leading him away.

"... Don't call me that."

Suigetsu just sniggered."Whatever you say, _Mr. Stud_."

Sasuke shot the snickering boy a glowering look.

"Ignore him," Jugo said. "He thinks he's being funny when he antagonizes people like that."

"I don't _think_ Jugo, I _know_."

Despite the taller boy's advice, Sasuke still found himself annoyed by Suigetsu's antics and he wondered just how long he would be able to deal with them before he snapped.

They ate near the back staircase of one of the buildings where they talked and Sasuke told them a little bit about himself, such as where he came from before he moved here and that his father was the chief of police.

"Holy crap, I think I've met him before." Suigetsu said. "I got caught by police a couple of years ago after me and an old friend of mine broke into someone's apartment and I'm pretty sure the chief was one of the policemen who caught us. Mean old bastard he was."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Suigetsu's purple eyes widened when he realised what he had just said.

"I mean... he was a lovely guy and I can definitely see the family resemblance and I feel so safe at night knowing that he's out there keeping our town safe."

"Hn." Sasuke smirked in amusement.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked up and saw Sakura walking towards them and waving her hand at him. She was also accompanied by a long blonde-haired girl that Sasuke recognised from their homeroom.

"Eww, its Haruno and Yamanaka." Suigetsu said as they approached.

"Shut the hell up, Hozuki." The blonde girl threatened with a menacing glare.

"Okay, okay, no need to get so violent." Suigetsu raised his hands up as if in surrender.

"Ha ha, Sasuke this is my friend, Ino." Sakura introduced and the blonde girl gave him an appreciative once over before pushing out her chest as she stepped closer to him and smiled flirtatiously at him.

"Pleasure to officially meet you Sasuke."

"Yeah." Sasuke said stepping back a little to put some distance between them.

"Keep your panties on, Yamanaka." Suigetsu sighed.

"I swear to god Suigetsu, I will kick you so hard between the legs you will have to put your dick in a cast."

Sasuke found it amazing how this girl could go from girly and tantalizing to incredibly frightening.

"Anyway, so Sasuke how has your day been so far?" Sakura asked. "Did you enjoy history?"

"Yeah, it wasn't bad actually."

"That's good!"

"So do you know what classes you have next, Sasuke?" Jugo inquired.

"I'm pretty sure I saw English next up on my timetable."

Ino gasped. "I have English next too! Maybe we'll be in the same class!"

_Great._

"Jeez, don't wet yourself." Suigetsu grinned and leaned against the brick wall.

"You're so not funny, Suigetsu." Ino glared.

"Are you sure? I think I'm pretty amusing." Suigetsu waggled his eyebrows.

"Yep, you should definitely get a job as a comedian, Suigetsu." Jugo suggested jokingly.

"I should shouldn't I? I could be like the next Jim Carrey. Plus, comedians get all the babes"

"Oh please." Ino scoffed. "Even if you were on T.V I still wouldn't date you."

"I never said anything about dating, maybe just a few late night hook-ups would do."

"You're terrible, Suigetsu!" Sakura shouted.

"Guilty."

Sasuke watched the scene before him with amusement. Maybe he would actually like this school.

* * *

Wow, I'm surprised I actually managed to update this quickly O.O This has never happened before. I also just really want to say that there will be action in this story but probably not a lot until near the end.

Hope you liked this chapter and the new characters introduced.


	5. Chapter 5

**Warning: This chapter contains swearing.**

* * *

Sasuke was on his way home from school that afternoon. It had been an enjoyable first day at his new school and he met some interesting people and teachers. Although he had not had the subject that day, during lunch, Sasuke, Kiba and another boy he had met in his English class, Shikamaru, had ran into one of the PE teachers there, an eccentric man clad in green spandex and black hair styled into a bowl cut named Might Guy.

After a brief introduction where Guy expressed his joy at having Sasuke attending their school in an over dramatic manner, Kiba and Shikamaru reassured Sasuke that Guy wasn't the only PE teacher at the school and that chances are he might not get Guy as his teacher.

Sasuke sincerely hoped so. It wasn't that he didn't like the teacher or anything, he just found Guy a little too unconventional for his tastes and he wasn't sure how he'd deal with having to attend classes taught by him.

Sasuke was two blocks away from his house when he saw something that made him stop and stare.

Or rather, he saw _someone_.

The first thing he saw was a familiar head of blonde spiky hair followed by a baggy neon orange jacket.

It was the boy Sasuke had met the other day sleeping in the tunnel of a playground in the park.

_Naruto?_

He was walking down the pathway across the road from Sasuke and Sasuke noted that the boy seemed to be moving with a purpose.

Sasuke watched as Naruto then turned and walked into the driveway of a small shabby white house covered in cracking paint and a dirty green roof.

As Naruto entered the driveway, he crouched down low and moved to the front porch, and Sasuke found himself growing increasingly more confused and concerned when he saw Naruto get onto his knees and cautiously peer into one of the windows.

Sasuke should have just kept walking. He should have minded his own business and continued on his way home. But curiosity got the better of him and he found himself walking across the road and towards the small white house where Naruto was currently prowling around the front yard.

Just what was Naruto doing? Was this his house? From the way Naruto was acting, it certainly didn't seem like this was his house.

Sasuke had just set foot on the front yard when he saw Naruto disappear around the side of the house and he quickly followed him.

He found Naruto caught at the side gate when he rounded the corner. He watched for a moment as the blonde boy grabbed a hold of the top of the gate and tried to climb over it with obvious difficulty.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, deciding to make his presence known.

With an exclamation, Naruto's grip on the gate was lost and he fell to the ground back first.

"Ooww." The blonde groaned as Sasuke stepped closer so that he stood over the fallen boy.

When Naruto looked up at him his eyes widened and he flipped himself over onto his stomach and raised himself up onto his hands and knees, staring at Sasuke disbelievingly.

"You!?" He exclaimed in a low voice just above a whisper. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." Sasuke retorted. "Do you live here or something?"

"Hell no." Naruto growled, standing up and dusting himself off a bit.

"Then what are you doing?" Sasuke questioned with his onyx eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I saw you skulking around this place. You looked like you were planning to break in or something."

"No, I'm not planning to break in… And keep your voice down." Naruto hissed.

"Then what are you doing?" Sasuke hissed back. He was starting to get annoyed and he really didn't even know why, let alone why he was bothering with this boy in the first place. He should just go home.

"I'm just here to get back what belongs to me." Naruto explained. "Now shush! I don't want them to know I'm here."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and watched as Naruto jumped up and down attempting to pull himself up onto the high wooden gate but to no avail.

On his fifth try with no success, Sasuke started looking around for something to give the boy a boost and found a dusty old plastic crate and carried it over to him.

"Oi, dumbass." Sasuke nudged Naruto in the back.

"What?"

Sasuke held the crate out to him. "Stand on this."

Naruto blinked in surprise and then took the crate from Sasuke's hands and placed it on the ground in front of the gate.

"Thanks." He whispered as he stood up onto the crate. With the assistance of the crate, Naruto was just tall enough to peer over the gate.

"So do you plan on telling me what exactly you are doing and who you're hiding from?"

"I'm not hiding from anyone." Naruto said without looking back at Sasuke.

"Then what?"

"I told you, I'm here to get something back."

Sasuke sighed tiredly and rubbed his temple. He was already beginning to regret coming over here.

"Yes, you said that but what are you here to get and who are you…"

"There they are!" Naruto exclaimed but not loud enough that he was actually shouting.

_Alright that's enough. _Sasuke stepped over to where Naruto was and shoved him over slightly so that he could also get up onto the crate and get a look at what exactly the blonde was looking at.

Over the gate, was a small backyard, covered in dying grass and plants and littered with rubbish.

He saw two boys lounging around on old lawn chairs and laughing obnoxiously as they drank from beer bottles.

Another taller and larger boy with a round face, thin orange hair and a mean expression on his round face, stood behind the two with his arms crossed and looking very much like the kind of intimidating bodyguard you see around celebrities.

"Who are they?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"A bunch of drunk dickheads." Naruto growled out with hatred clear in his voice.

"I see I'm assuming you're… acquainted with them?"

"Yep."

"Yo, Sakon!" One of the boys with the dark skin and the long black hair pulled into a messy pony tail shouted. "Go get me another beer will ya?"

The boy sitting in the lounge chair next to the other took a sip from his own can of what appeared to be _VB, _sat up and glared angrily at his companion. "Get your own fucking beer, Kidomaru." His words sounded slightly slurred.

The Sakon guy had a head of straightened silver hair and much to Sasuke's mystification he was also wearing blue lipstick as well as a heavy amount of eyeliner.

"Oh c'mon, bro!" Kidomaru whined holding up his beer bottle.

"Fuck off, I'm not getting you shit you lazy asshole."

"Fine be a douche bag!" Kidomaru turned to the largest member of their trio and the only one that wasn't in the process of getting wasted, Sasuke noted. "Jirobo be a dear and get me another drink?"

"Hmph." The red head frowned but walked off nonetheless to fetch his friend a drink.

"At least Jirobo's willing to do things for me."

Sakon replied to this by taking another long swig from his beer. Kidomaru tossed his empty bottle aside where it hit something and causing that something to yelp upon contact.

It was then that Sasuke noticed the stake driven into the dirt near the fence that was partially hidden by the dying shrubbery. And attached to the stake with a heavy chain around its neck was a skinny orange dog that Sasuke almost mistook for an oversized fox.

Naruto had apparently also seen the chained up animal as he growled from beside him with animosity laced in his voice. "Thos fucking assholes."

Then everything seemed to click for Sasuke. When Sasuke had first met Naruto in the playground, he had said that he had been out all night looking for his dog. The dog must be the one he was looking for. It would explain why he had found Naruto skulking around the house and why he looked so angry at the moment.

"Oh what?" Kidomaru turned his attention to the dog. "You don't like it when I throw bottles at you?"

The orange dog growled while displaying its sharp white teeth to the dark-haired boy.

"Well what are you gonna do about it ya dumb mutt?" Kidomaru picked up one of the empty beer cans lying around on the lawn and threw it at the dog. "You're all tied up so you can't do a thing about it!" He found more things amongst the rubbish littered across the grass and proceeded to hurl them all at the defenseless animal.

"That's fucking it!" Before Sasuke had time to react, Naruto had jumped over the gate and was charging over towards the two occupants of the backyard.

"Hey!" He shouted angrily.

Sakon and Kidomaru both looked up at the intruder.

Kidomaru stopped his assault on the dog and sneered when he saw Naruto. "Oh hey! It's Uzumaki!"

"Oh, what bring you here?" Sakon smirked into his drink.

"You know what!" Naruto snapped. "You stole my dog you jerks and I want him back!"

Kidomaru stood up from his lawn chair and sent a smug look to Sakon as he did so. "See, Sakon, I told you if we took the mutt he'd come here sooner or later."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get so full of yourself, Kidomaru."

"Assholes!" Naruto shouted with a raised fist. "Just give me back my dog!"

"No can do kid." Kidomaru said in a tone that suggested he had anything _but_ good intentions.

"Yeah, you see we still need to pay you back for screwing up our plan that time." Sakon explained in a slimy voice as he came to stand next to Kidomaru.

Naruto gritted his teeth and made to take step towards the two, but his shoulder was suddenly gripped harshly from behind and turned around to find Jirobo towering over him before the large boy knocked Naruto to the ground with a meaty fist to his face.

"Shit!" Sasuke hissed, shrugging off his school bag and on impulse grabbed onto the gate and hauled himself over it.

By now the other two, Sakon and Kidomaru had huddled around the fallen Naruto and were in the process of delivering swift kicks to his stomach and back. In the background, Naruto's dog was barking like mad and pulling on its chain in a desperate and futile attempt to free itself and save its master.

"Not so tough now are you?"

Sakon was just about to land another kick, this time at Naruto's head.

"Hey!"

They all turned around to see Sasuke standing there, looking quite calm and casual actually with his hands in his pockets.

"Who the fuck is this?" Kidomaru asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No one, just leave him out of this." Naruto gritted out.

"Oh you got yourself a new friend, blondie?" Sakon teased and simultaneously dug the sole of his shoe into Naruto's back.

"So who are ya?" Kidomaru asked Sasuke directly this time.

"No one important." Sasuke brushed off the question. "But from what I understand, you have something that belongs to him, yes?" Sasuke gestured to the pinned down Naruto. "Why don't you give it back to him?"

Kidomaru snorted. "And why would we do that?"

"Stealing is against the law."

This earned Sasuke a laugh from Kidomaru and a chuckle from Sakon.

"You think we give a fuck about the law?" Kidomaru scoffed. "What are you some sort of cop?"

"No." Sasuke admitted. "But my dad is."

Sasuke watched with some satisfaction as the grin on Kidomaru's face slowly disappeared and was replaced by an expression of apprehension.

"Your dad?"

Sasuke nodded. "You may have heard of him. Fugaku Uchiha, Captain of the Konoha Police Force. Lives just about three blocks from here, I'm sure he'd be here in no time if I called him."

"You wouldn't." Kidomaru snarled.

Sasuke pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up for them all to see. "Try me."

Kidomaru's eyes narrowed dangerously and Sasuke could tell that he had put him in a tight spot.

"Hey Kidomaru, I don't know if this guy's joking." Sakon admitted agitatedly. "I mean he actually even kind of looks like the chief."

"Yeah, maybe we should just let them go; I don't think it would be a very good idea to get involved with the police again." Jirobo spoke up.

"You guys are just a bunch of pussies!" Kidomaru snapped. "We don't even know if he's telling the truth."

"You want me to prove it to you? I can call him right now if you want?" Sasuke then proceeded to unlock his phone and open up his contacts.

"Kidomaru..."

"He's just bluffing!"

Sasuke put his phone on speaker so that they could all clearly hear the sound of a phone ringing.

It only took four rings before Kidomaru finally snapped.

"Alright! Alright, you can take the stupid mutt!"

Sasuke cancelled the call and smirked triumphantly. "That's good; I guess we'll be leaving now."

"Don't go acting all smug kid, we're not gonna forget about this so you better watch yourself." Kidomaru replied threateningly.

He then walked over to where Naruto was now getting up off of the ground. "And don't think we're just gonna let you off the hook either, Uzumaki." He growled. "We're still gonna pay you back for stealing from us."

With one final glare in Sasuke's direction, Kidomaru and his two cronies retreated to inside their house leaving Sasuke, Naruto and the tied up dog alone.

As soon as they were gone, Naruto scrambled to his feet and rushed over to his dog.

"Kurama!"

Naruto undid the chain around his dog's neck and once the animal was let free, Naruto wrapped his arms around it.

"I'm so sorry boy; I promise I'll never let them get you again."

The dog replied by wagging its bushy tail and licking the side of Naruto's face.

"We should probably get going now." Sasuke suggested. "Before they change their minds."

"Yeah."

Together, along with Naruto's dog, they left the backyard and Sasuke made sure to pick up his bag from where he left at the side gate.

It wasn't until they were a good distance away from the old white house did Naruto stop and kneel down to inspect his dog.

"Fucking bastards." Naruto hissed.

Sasuke stepped closer to him and that's when he caught sight of what had made Naruto curse.

Some fur was missing around the canine's neck and it made it easier to see the raw and somewhat bloodied skin from where the chain had obviously dug into the animal's skin.

"That doesn't look to good." Sasuke observed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna kill those assholes."

"Maybe you should take it to the vet," Sasuke suggested, "I'm sure they'd be able to treat it."

Naruto sighed. "Too bad I don't have any money."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Well I'm sure your parents would lend you some money if you asked."

A shadow passed over Naruto's face and Sasuke got the distinct feeling that he had said something wrong.

"Too bad I don't have any of those either." Naruto muttered glumly and although his words had been more to himself, Sasuke had heard them nonetheless.

"What are you talking about?" He asked voicing his confusion.

Naruto sighed once again and placed a hand on the back of his dog. It was obvious enough to see that the boy was troubled and Sasuke couldn't help but feel slightly responsible for it. Obviously it was his question that had put the blonde in a seemingly glum mood but he couldn't help it. He was curious to know what Naruto had meant with what he said. Surely he couldn't have meant...

"I... don't have any parents." Naruto said not meeting Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke blinked. "You're an orphan?"

Naruto just nodded.

"Well then your guardian?" Sasuke asked with furrowed eyebrows. "Whoever you live with, I'm sure they could lend you money?"

"I don't have a guardian... and... I don't live anywhere either."

Sasuke remained silent and this time Naruto did look up at him, a half-hearted grin on his face.

"It's just me and Kurama, living on the streets." Naruto said slinging an arm around the canine.

Sasuke frowned as he tried to piece everything together.

"So when I first met you the other day... when I found you sleeping in the playground...?"

"Well that's kind of the norm for me... I live on the streets and I sleep wherever I can find a good place to spend the night without getting mugged or anything." Naruto shrugged and scratched Kurama behind one of his pointed ears.

"I-I see." Was all Sasuke could say.

It came as quite a shock to hear Naruto admit that he was actually just a hobo with nobody but his dog for company and Sasuke couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"Yeah well..." Naruto stood up and rubbed the back of his neck, obviously feeling a little awkward now that he had told Sasuke the truth. "I uh... I better get going now."

"Yeah... me too."

Naruto nodded, lips pulled up into a slight smile and he started to walk off in the opposite direction that Sasuke was heading in when he stopped suddenly and turned back to face Sasuke.

"Oh and uh by the way, I just wanted to say... thanks for helping me out and all... that was really cool of you."

"Hn. No problem. You would have gotten your ass kicked if I wasn't there." Sasuke smirked teasingly.

"Bastard, I so could've taken them!"

"Sure."

"I so could have!"

"You just keep telling yourself that."

Naruto flipped the finger at Sasuke as a final goodbye before they parted ways.

Sasuke arrived home to find his father already home, sitting in the kitchen and reading the news paper while drinking a cup of coffee. As soon as Sasuke set foot through the front door, Fugaku had proceeded to question Sasuke about why he was so late in returning home from school. Sasuke wasn't so sure his father would appreciate Sasuke telling him of his little escapade with Naruto just then, so Sasuke simply said that he had gone into the main street with some of his classmates. Fugaku had regarded his son sceptically and then told Sasuke that he should have let him know where he was, before returning to his reading.

Sasuke had retreated to his room for the rest of the afternoon, completing his English homework and then spending the rest of his free time browsing the internet. When he logged onto his _Facebook _he saw that he had quite the number of friend requests, one from Suigetsu, Ino, Sakura, Jugo, Karin and many others that he had met at school.

After dinner, while Sasuke was in his room reading through his History textbook, his father knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Fugaku opened the door and Sasuke noticed that his father's expression seemed more tense than usual.

"Your mother's on the phone and she would like to speak to you."

Sasuke sat up on his bed. His mother was on the phone? Well no wonder his father seemed on edge.

Sasuke didn't waste any time and left his room to head downstairs.

He was actually excited to speak to his mother since it had been a few days since he last heard a word from her and he was beginning to miss her even though he was used to her having to travel for her work.

When Sasuke entered the kitchen he picked up the phone from where it was rested on the kitchen bench and pressed it to his ear.

"Mum?"

"Sasuke!" His mother's excited voice sounded in his ear. "How are you sweetie?"

Sasuke smiled lightly. "I'm good and yourself?"

"I'm tired." Mikoto said with a light laugh. "We're so busy at the moment trying to get an interview with the president but it's almost impossible to get in contact with the man."

"Sounds rough."

"Oh it is. But enough about me how was your first day at school today?"

"It was good." Sasuke replied.

"That's great! Did you make any new friends?"

"Yeah, I think I made a few." A few may have been a _bit_ of an understatement.

"Oh Sasuke, I'm so pleased to hear that."

"Mm." Sasuke hummed. "So how's Russia?"

"Freezing Sasuke, absolutely freezing."

Sasuke chuckled. "Oh really?"

"Yes really! I didn't think it would be so cold over here so I didn't pack many warm clothes. I even had to go out and buy some jumpers yesterday since I was that cold with what I was wearing."

Sasuke talked on the phone with Mikoto for another good twenty minutes before she had to go. She wished him all the best and told him that she missed him to which Sasuke replied that he did too.

After speaking to his mother, Sasuke's mood felt lighter than before. It felt good to be able to talk to his mother and he secretly hoped that she would be able to ring him again sometime soon.

After finishing up on his reading, Sasuke went to bed and as he lay there with his eyes open and his head rested against the pillow, he thought about his day and how well it had actually gone. But then he started to think about Naruto and the contented mood he had been in diminished and he was left with a heaviness in his chest that he just couldn't shake the more he thought of the homeless orphan.

* * *

I just really want to say that after much deliberation, I have come to a conclusion about Sasuke and Naruto's relationship in the story. Their relationship shall be ambiguous so it shall be up the reader to decide whether they are just friends or have some hinted feelings for one another. You decide ;)

I also really appreciate your feedback on this story so feel free to leave a review telling me what you think of this chapter :)


	6. Chapter 6

**I would just like to say that I am incredibly grateful to those of you who are reviewing, favouriting and following this story. Seeing a new review/favourite/or follow always makes me so happy and gives me encouragement to continue writing this story. :)**

* * *

Fate decided to show mercy to Sasuke when he entered his first P.E. class on Tuesday afternoon and found that his teacher was not Might Guy, but a man by the name of Genma Shiranui, a tall muscular man with jaw length brown hair and darker brown eyes, a toothpick in his mouth and a blue bandana on his head.

Suigetsu was in his class, along with Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru and Ino, Karin and Sakura. Ino, Karin and Sakura actually happened to be the only girls in the class. Ino said that her reason for taking up P.E. was because she came from a sporty family and had always enjoyed playing sports. Sakura's reason was because Ino had pretty much forced her to do it since although Ino loved her sports; she was not keen on possibly being the only girl in the class. Karin said that she had nothing better to do, but Suigetsu told Sasuke it was actually so that she could perv on all the hot guys, to which earned him a slap on the head from the red head herself.

After everyone was done changing into the P.E. uniforms, Genma assembled his class in the gym and had them sit on the bleachers on the far right while he gave them all a rundown of what today's lesson was going to be all about.

He explained that first they would warm up with some stretches and two laps around the oval and then they would move on to playing some basketball.

After some basic, calf and quadriceps stretches, they were lead onto the wide green oval that to Sasuke looked like two ovals put together. The oval at his old school definitely hadn't been as big as this one, it was so _big_. Once their teacher blew the whistle they started on their laps. Sasuke, being a naturally fast runner, managed to stay in front of many of his classmates, his speed being rivalled only by Kiba and they made it into a fierce competition to see who would come first at the end of the laps.

Sasuke managed to beat Kiba by about a _second_ and the both of them collapsed onto the damp grass once they were finished, panting and trying to regain their breath.

"Ha, nice one Uchiha." Kiba said breathlessly and slapped Sasuke playfully on the back.

Sasuke wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "Yeah... you're not so bad yourself."

Choji, Suigetsu and Shikamaru were the last to finish their laps. Choji because his body weight just wouldn't allow him to keep up with the others, Suigetsu because he didn't have enough stamina and Shikamaru simply because he was too lazy to run fast.

"Water!" Suigetsu cried. "Water, water, water!"

The white-haired boy dropped to the grass, searching for his bottle of water and once he found it he uncapped it hurriedly (almost frenziedly) and began to drink the water in long desperate gulps.

"Hmph, he's always so overly dramatic." Sasuke heard Ino say to Sakura.

When he saw Suigetsu finally part from his water bottle with a long sigh and hold the plastic bottle close to his sweaty pale cheek and voice how much he loved his 'precious supplier of delicious, hydrating water', Sasuke couldn't help but think that Ino was right.

Genma gave them all a five minute water break and also left them with instructions that once they're time was up they were to meet back in the gym and organise themselves into teams for basketball.

"How the hell do you run like that!?" Suigetsu demanded as they headed back to the gymnasium.

"I'm just a fast runner." Sasuke shrugged casually. "No big deal."

"Are you kidding me?" Suigetsu exclaimed. "You were like lightning man, I can't even run half as fast as you and the mutt can."

"Hey!" Kiba cried indignantly from behind them.

"Shut up Inuzuka, I payed you a compliment."

Kiba just grumbled.

"Well maybe you could be if you just exercised a little more instead of sitting around playing video games all day." Karin criticised.

"Oh yeah well, I didn't see you running any marathons either." Suigetsu retorted angrily and then smirked. "Maybe that's because you just sit around all day gossiping to your friends on Facebook and eating junk food all day. You are getting a little wide in the hips, Karin."

"You bastard!" Karin then proceeded to grab Suigetsu into a painful headlock.

Sasuke contemplated helping out as he watched them.

"Agh, god damn it woman!" Suigetsu choked out. "L-Let me go."

"You jackass, what makes you think you can say things like that!?"

Maybe not.

"Suigetsu! Karin!" Their P.E. teacher shouted at the two wrestling on the ground. "Cut that out or I'll have you two running laps for the rest of the class!"

Karin immediately released her iron grip on Suigetsu's neck. She adjusted her glasses and patted her hair before walking off and leaving Suigetsu gasping for breath.

"She's such a bitch." Suigetsu muttered to Sasuke.

"Hn."

When everyone made it back to the gym, Genma divided them all into two teams, one team consisting of players wearing blue bibs and the other of players with green.

Sasuke was placed on the blue bib team along with Karin, Ino and Choji. The captains of each team came to stand in the centre of the basketball court in front of Genma with the ball in his hand and as soon as Genma blew the whistle, he tossed the ball into the air and let the game begin.

Sasuke had never really played basketball much before; he was more partial to soccer actually. But just because he didn't play basketball often, didn't mean he was rubbish at it.

Sasuke's roll in the game was simple, he just had to guard the player from the other team with the same number as him (number 18), keep the ball off of him and try to keep him from making any passes to his team members when he did get the ball. Sasuke managed to do alright and he had actually managed to get the ball into the hoop twice, earning some much appreciated points for his team.

The third shot he made was the one that won them the game. Everyone on court had watched in anticipation when he threw the ball up into the air, neatly and accurately and everyone found themselves holding their breathes when the orange ball spun around the ring for a few moments before falling directly into the hoop.

The blue bib team erupted into loud cheers when Genma blew his whistle and announced their team to be the winners.

"You were amazing, Sasuke!" Ino cried happily, jumping onto his back and earning jealous outbursts from Sakura and Karin.

The next game however, proved a different outcome for Sasuke. When Choji was in possession of the ball, he hastily tossed it to Sasuke when he saw him as the closest member of their team. The throw that Choji made was a bit out of aim and too high so as Sasuke leapt up to get the ball, another boy from the opposite team had the same idea and both he and Sasuke ended up colliding in the air, with neither of them managing to catch the ball.

Sasuke swore he blacked out for a second or two as he hit the floor and when he opened his eyes he was surrounded by his classmates.

"Oh my god, Sasuke!" He heard Sakura shout.

"Hey, man are you okay?"

Suigetsu's slightly blurred figure appeared above him. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Seven." Sasuke gritted out. His head was so _painful_. It felt like it was going to burst open at any moment.

"Move out of the way, idiot!" Karin shoved Suigetsu violently to the side. "Sasuke are you okay?" Her crimson eyes were wide with exaggerated concern as she leaned down close enough that their noses were almost touching.

"Alright, alright, everyone step back." Genma's calm and collected voice rang out through the gym and he approached Sasuke just as Kiba and Shikamaru were busy helping him sit up. "You okay, Uchiha?" He asked kneeling down in front of him.

"My head... is killing me." He was having trouble keeping his eyes open, he was sure that the other kid had struck him in the side of the head with his elbow or knee or something. All he knew was that he had collided with an incredibly hard body part and now his head was throbbing like mad.

"Let me see." Genma leaned in closer to Sasuke, reaching out to move strands of his hair out of the way.

As he did so, a newly formed reddish purple bruise on Sasuke's left temple, just above his eyebrow was revealed.

Nearly everybody around them hissed.

"Oh crap." One boy muttered.

"Ouch."

"Shit man," Kiba winced in sympathetic pain, "that looks bad."

_Bad is an understatement. _

"Damn, Uchiha." The boy he had collided with in midair, said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." Sasuke replied softly and calmly. _What the fuck? Are your limbs made out of titanium or something?_ Sasuke was incredulous on the inside as he examined the boy's long and slender arms and legs, wondering just how knock from either one of them had caused him so much pain and such a large bruise on his head.

"Hm." Genma rubbed his chin, the toothpick in his mouth pointing upwards as lips turned up in contemplation. "It doesn't look _too_ bad, but I still think you should go to the infirmary, just in case."

"Hn." Going to the infirmary did sound like a good idea.

"Hozuki, show Uchiha to the infirmary, everyone else, get back to playing."

Sasuke stood up on wobbly legs and fought against the sudden dizziness that overcame him as he moved too suddenly and then followed Suigetsu out of the gym.

The infirmary was located at the other end of the school near the front office, and it would have been a much longer walk had Suigetsu not insisted on cutting through a couple if buildings to save time walking.

By the time they made it Sasuke felt sticky with sweat from running around playing basketball and he was feeling slightly light-headed. It took all of his energy to not just collapse and give into fatigue and giddiness.

Suigetsu even commented that he looked a little paler than usual.

They knocked on the front door and a light male voice called out for them to come in.

Suigetsu opened the door and they walked into the infirmary. It was a spacious room with white walls and matching floors. To the left were rows two rows of bed that were all currently unoccupied. The curtains on the windows at the front of the room were drawn open, allowing sunlight to brighten up the room with natural light. The sunlight bounced off of the immaculate white walls, making them appear as if they were glowing. The infirmary was empty apart from the young man with chin length grey hair and round black rimmed glasses, sitting at the desk at the front of room, typing away on the keyboard of his computer.

After typing some last few things into his computer, the man swivelled around in his chair to face the two boys that had just entered and offered them both a friendly smile, as he pushed his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose.

"Hello boys, what can I do for you?"

"Kabuto, this is Sasuke, he needs ya to look at him." Suigetsu explained somewhat vaguely.

Kabuto's dark eyes brightened as they fell on Sasuke. "Ah, so you must be the new student, Sasuke Uchiha yes?"

"Yeah."

"I'm the school nurse, Kabuto Yakushi, pleased to meet you."

"Yeah you too." Sasuke replied lamely. He could hardly think coherently at the moment with the unrelenting throbbing in his head.

"Alright, so what seems to be the problem?"

"He slammed into another guy while we were playing basketball and hit his head." Suigetsu said. "He might have a concussion of something; he has a pretty bad bruise."

Kabuto's smile faded and he pursed his lips into a serious expression. "Okay, let's take a quick look."

He stepped closer towards Sasuke, taking a gentle hold of his face and moving his hair out of the way to get a better look at the bruise.

"That's quite a bruise you have there."

"Hn."

"Would you do me a favour and please take a seat up on the bench there, Sasuke?" Kabuto gestured to the green cushioned examining table located against the far left wall, next to a variation of draws and cupboards.

Sasuke complied to the nurse's request and sauntered over to sit on the bench.

"Thank you for bringing him over here Suigetsu, you can go back to class now."

"Alright, see ya later, Sasuke."

"See ya."

Suigetsu gave him one final wave before he stepped out the door.

Kabuto went back to examining Sasuke.

"Now tell me Sasuke, do you remember what happened?"

"We were playing basketball and I went to get the ball," Sasuke explained, "and then this other kid and I kind of collided and I think he elbowed me or kneed me... I'm not too sure."

"So did you lose consciousness at all after you were hit?"

Sasuke had to pause and think for a minute because he actually couldn't remember; it was all just a big blur mostly.

"I think... I might have, I'm pretty sure I blacked out for a bit but I wasn't out for too long."

"Okay, and how's your head?" Kabuto asked. "Is it sore do you have a headache?"

"Yeah, it hurts quite a bit actually."

Kabuto made a humming sound. "I see. Let me get you an ice- pack, it should help a bit." Kabuto walked over to small white refrigerator in the corner.

"Do you feel nauseas at the moment? Feel like you're going to vomit?"

Kabuto asked as he pulled out an ice-pack from the fridge.

"I did, but not so much now. It's kind of fading."

Kabuto walked back over to where Sasuke was sitting and handed him the ice-pack.

"Thanks." Sasuke said as he accepted the ice-pack and pressed it tenderly to his sore head.

"You're welcome. Do you feel dizzy or drowsy, like you're about to fall asleep?"

"A little bit."

"I see. Sasuke I think you may have a mild concussion." Kabuto concluded. "Nothing too serious but I still don't think I can allow you to stay here, it might be best if you go home and rest lest your condition worsens."

Sasuke just made a displeased sound and lowered his head and closed his eyes, keeping the ice-pack firmly against the bruise and relishing in the comforting coolness it brought to his pounding head.

* * *

Fugaku sat in his office at the Police Station, going through a few important files on his computer. It had been a pretty peaceful day so far. Konoha was by no means a big town but there were still the occasional law breakers that had to be dealt with, whether it was just someone driving over the speed limit or shop lifting, but there had been none of that today, so Fugaku was just left sitting alone in his office. Eventually Fugaku sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. Staring at the computer screen for too long always made his eyes feel dry. Taking his fingers away from his eyes, Fugaku caught sight of the framed photograph he had sitting on his desk of his sons. It had been taken awhile back when Sasuke was thirteen and Itachi was eighteen. Both boys were smiling and Fugaku always felt his heart lighten when saw them smile.  
Fugaku looked away from the photo before he began to drown in memories of happier times. He couldn't afford to live in the past, he had to keep his eyes open and focus on what was in the present. He had to focus on keeping Sasuke saf-  
There was a knock on the door, interrupting him from his musings.  
"Come in."  
The door opened and Obito Uchiha stepped inside.  
"What is it, Obito?" Fugaku asked.  
"Sasuke's school just rang up, they need you to come down and pick him up."  
Fugaku's brows furrowed into a frown. "And why is that?"  
"I'm not too sure, the guy who rang up kept it brief but he just said that Sasuke had a mild concussion and needed to be taken home."

Fugaku sighed. _A concussion? How on earth had Sasuke managed to get a concussion? _

Though his heart beat had sped up at the mention that Sasuke had been hurt but he managed to mask his concern well enough.

"If you want," Obito spoke up, "I can go and pick him up."

"No, no that's alright, Obito; I'll go and get him." Fugaku said, rising from his seat.

"Are you sure, Uncle?" Obito asked. "I mean, it's really no problem."

"It's a slow day, Obito. I think I can manage to slip away long enough to pick up Sasuke, call me if I'm needed back here, I'll come back here later this evening."

"Alright sir." Obito turned around to leave but then paused to look back at his uncle. "Say hi to Sasuke for me."

"Hn." Fugaku replied as he went about the room gathering up his things.

Obito smiled and then walked away. Fugaku slipped on his coat, placing his phone, keys and wallet in the pockets and then hurriedly made his way out the door and down the hallway, only pausing to stop and tell the receptionist where he was heading off too.

Although Fugaku seemed as calm and collected as ever, on the inside he was actually quite anxious to get to Sasuke and check on his condition. Obito told him that the school had said that it was only a _mild_ concussion, but Fugaku never really listened to what others had to say unless he knew for himself.

* * *

Sasuke could hardly keep his eyes open as he sat in the front seat of his father's car while they were on their way home.

He was actually quite miffed about his father having to come and pick him up from school. It had only been his second day there and he had already gotten himself injured just enough to have to be sent home early. Staring at the people walking along the footpath they passed as they drove by, Sasuke tried to reason with himself that it was probably best that they had sent him home. After all it was better he go home then risk potentially passing out at school.

He was still annoyed though.

"You go upstairs and lie down and I'll get you some painkillers." Fugaku said once they arrived home and stepped out of the car.

"Alright." Sasuke answered dully. The pain in his head had lessened to a dull ache by now.

Sasuke could feel his father's eyes on him as they walked up the driveway towards the front door. He was probably making sure that Sasuke didn't just collapse and faint. It did make Sasuke feel a little self-conscious; he didn't want to appear weak in front of his father and he hated it that his father had to see him in this condition, where he was sluggish and barely able to keep his eyes open.

Ever since he was little, Sasuke had always thought of his father as the epitome of strength. Nothing ever seemed to faze him.

He could probably take a bullet and not even flinch.

So for Sasuke, to appear feeble and weak in front of this strong and proud man was a little bit degrading.

Fugaku unlocked the front door and held it open for Sasuke before walking in himself.

Neither of them noticed the pair of amber eyes watching them from across the street.

* * *

"Got any news for me?"

"He's attending Konoha Academy and I actually got to meet him face to face."

"Oh? Learn anything interesting?" Hidan questioned into the receiver of his mobile phone.

"That he's definitely Fugaku Uchiha's son and that he has absolutely no idea what is really going on."

"Well that's good." Hidan smirked. "If the little bugger has no clue then it should make our job easier when Kakuzu gives us the orders."

"Yes. Fugaku seems tense but he doesn't seem to suspect anything, not even the fact that I'm the one watching them."

"Ha, what a fuckwit." Hidan snorted. "So is that all you've got for me so far?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. But don't worry; I'll be sure to collect more information on the two of them."

"That's good to hear, I knew I made the right decision in hiring you, you're such a hard worker, isn't that right?"

There was no reply and the beeping from the other line alerted Hidan to fact that his spy had just hung up on him.

He held the phone away from his ear and looked down on it with a displeased frown.

"He's one hell of a prick as well."

* * *

_I've had a concussion before so I didn't really need to do a lot of research on the symptoms and treatment. Sorry there wasn't really much going on in the chapter, next chapter will hopefully be a lot more interesting. And Naruto will be back next chapter as well! :D_


	7. Chapter 7

It was finally Friday.

Sasuke had managed to make it through the hectic first week at Konoha Academy.

And that was definitely a good feeling.

"Hey Sasuke!" Karin called out to him later on that afternoon while he was walking back to homeroom after his Biology class.

"What?"

"Suigetsu, Jugo and I are going down to the Main Street after school, wanna join us?"

"Hm, I don't know." He did have History and Biology homework that he needed to do.

"Oh come on, Sasuke!" Karin pouted crossing her arms over her chest. "It'll be fun." Then her expression turned sly. "Unless you would just like it to be the two of us, then I can happily arrange that."

The bespectacled girl leaned closer to Sasuke and lightly trailed her fingers up his bare arm.

Sasuke sighed, and pulled her hand away from his arm. "Fine, I'll go with the _three_ of you."

Karin looked a little put out by his rejection of going on a date with her. "Alright, I'll tell the other two idiots. Meet us at the front gates okay?"

Sasuke nodded. "Alright."

"Good, see you then, Sasuke!"

Once Sasuke was let out of homeroom, he made sure to text his dad telling him that he was going out with some friends and wouldn't be home right away.

He had replied back to Sasuke's text by the time that he met up with Jugo, Suigetsu and Karin at the front gate, simply saying; _be home by seven._

They wandered around town for a little while because they all really wanted to show Sasuke around since he hadn't had an opportunity to see what was around apart for a cafe, supermarket and a _McDonald's_ outlet.

After they were done dragging him into various stores, they stopped at the local cafe which was apparently where Suigetsu, Jugo and Karin normally hung out. They got themselves a table near the window where they ordered some drinks and Suigetsu ordered himself a chicken burger while Jugo just ordered the egg salad.

"I still can't believe Miss. Yuhi gave me a detention just for showing up a few seconds late to class." Suigetsu complained, leaning his head on the table.

"Actually I here, she's soon to be _Mrs_. Sarutobi." Karin said.

"Wait you mean she's getting hitched to old man Sarutobi?" Suigetsu asked incredulous.

"No you dumbass." Karin growled. "I'm talking about his son, Mr. Sarutobi, the History teacher."

Suigetsu frowned sourly. "Well either way, she can still be such a bitch."

"You were ten minutes late after the bell, Suigetsu." Sasuke mentioned in a somewhat scolding tone.

Suigetsu waved his hand dismissively. "Like that's such a big deal. It's not like I was an hour late or anything."

"What were you even doing that made you late anyway?" Sasuke asked.

Suigetsu leaned his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his palm, looking a little unwilling to explain his reason for being late.

"Well..." Jugo looked at Suigetsu expectantly.

One of the women working at the cafe brought over their drinks as well as Jugo's salad and Suigetsu's burger.

Even after the woman left, Suigetsu still kept his mouth shut which caused Karin to grow impatient.

"Oh just hurry up and spill it would you, Suigetsu?" She snapped.

Sighing, Suigetsu finally relented to the expectant looks being thrown his way. "I-I asked Yamanaka out."

There was a stunned pause in which all three of them stared at Suigetsu like he had just miraculously grown another head.

"Wait, you mean Ino Yamanaka? You asked her out?" Karin asked a little louder than she probably should have.

"Do I mean Ino Yamanaka, of course I mean Ino Yamanaka!" Suigetsu snapped at her with narrowed eyes. "Who did you think I was talking about? Her dad?"

_Well, that's certainly unexpected._

Sasuke hadn't known Ino or Suigetsu for too long, but he had caught onto the dynamics between the two. Suigetsu would tease Ino and grind on her nerves and Ino would retaliate in a violent manner, hitting him or using some obscene words to describe his character before stomping off. This all seemed to bring some sort of twisted pleasure to Suigetsu. Although it did seem a little similar to his relationship with Karin, it was much different; Suigetsu antagonized Karin because they _both_ got on each other's nerves, which actually made Sasuke question why they hung out with each other in the first place. Perhaps it was just because of their mutual friends? Or maybe they both just really enjoyed picking on one another so much that they couldn't _not_ hang out.

"Well what did she say?" Jugo asked.

"Did she say yes?" Karin's eyes were bulging as she leaned in closer to the white-haired boy, desperate for answers. "Are you two dating now or what? Come on give me details here!"

"Would you calm down woman?" Suigetsu demanded exasperatedly.

"Not until you give me answers."

"And why the hell should I have to tell you anything?"

"Because I asked you nicely." Karin answered in a somewhat threatening manner.

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow at her.

Jugo sighed. "Just tell her Suigetsu, she won't leave you alone until you do."

"That's right."

To Sasuke's surprise, Suigetsu's ears actually started to turn a light shade of red.

Suigetsu sighed heavily, before folding his arms across the table top and burying his face in them.

"She said no." Was the muffled reply laced with humiliation.

And it didn't take long for Karin to begin her relentless mocking.

* * *

As it approached five thirty, the four friends decided to head home after agreeing to catch up again sometime soon. Sasuke was perfectly okay with that, he had quite enjoyed hanging out with Suigetsu, Karin and Jugo. They were fun to be around and easy to get along with.

Sasuke was walking along the footpath, past the park when fate decided that Sasuke's life needed a little bit of humour in it.

"Arf, arf!"

Sasuke spun around just in time for an oversized fox to catapult into his chest. The impact forced Sasuke to the ground. Fortunately, his school bag took most of the impact and he managed to keep the back of his head from hitting the hard concrete.

Sasuke groaned and opened his eyes to find a scruffy orange face looking down on him with a long pink tongue dangling out of its mouth and panting heavily in his face.

It took Sasuke a second to realise it was a dog and maybe a little longer to realise he knew who this dog was.

"You." Sasuke said in a croaky voice and a scowl on his face.

Kurama's furry ears perked up when Sasuke said this and leaned down even closer to Sasuke's face to give him a big wet lick on his face.

Unable to stand the animal slobbering all over him, he pushed the dog away from him and sat up with a very pleased-looking Kurama sitting beside him.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, willing to at least spare the mutt a scratch behind the ear. "Where's your…"

"Kurama!"

Sure enough, Naruto, with his unkempt blonde hair and baggy orange jacket, came rocketing down the sidewalk towards them.

"Kurama, you dumb dog." Naruto huffed when he finally reached them. Sasuke noticed that he looked very much out of breath, like he had been running for hours. It was quite likely that this ditsy looking dog in front of him was the one responsible for this.

"I-I'm so sorry… I…" Naruto stopped mid-sentence when he realised it was Sasuke who was sitting in the middle of the side-walk. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I was walking home when your dog jumped me all of sudden. Literally."

"Sorry, he just kind of took off and I couldn't stop him."

"Hn. I could imagine." Kurama didn't really seem like the kind of dog that would stop what he was doing just because he had been beckoned. "Ever considered getting a leash?"

Naruto snorted. "Well I would but I kind of need money to buy one, ya know."

_Shit. _

Sasuke had actually forgotten up until now that Naruto was an orphan living on the streets and what he had just said made him feel like kind of an ass.

"Sorry."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Naruto grinned and ran a hand through his golden locks.

"Hn." Sasuke stood up and dusted himself off.

There was an awkward silence between the two boys in which Kurama yawned quite loudly and then started sniffing Sasuke's hand.

"It's kind of weird, ya know, Kurama doesn't usually just approach strangers so willingly." Naruto admitted looking down at his dog.

"I have met him before." Sasuke said referring to the time he helped Naruto get Kurama back a couple days ago when Kidomaru and his cronies stole him.

"Yeah but still, that was only once."

"I think I might appreciate it a lot more if he didn't knock me to the ground."

And on cue, Kurama barked and leapt up onto Sasuke, who managed to catch the dog in his arms with a winded "oof."

Naruto grinned. "Aww, I think he likes you."

"Gee, I feel so honoured." Sasuke drawled out sarcastically, cringing when a wet tongue started lapping at his chin.

"Kurama, stop making out with Sasuke, you'll get cooties." Naruto teased, taking him from Sasuke's arms and then putting him back on the ground.

"_Cooties_? What are you, six?"

Naruto gave him a sheepish grin that actually reminded Sasuke of a six-year-old. There was something about this boy that made him seem younger than he actually was. Maybe it was his messy blonde hair, or is over-sized jacket or even the way the way that his smile just seemed much too big for his face and made him look like a mischievous child.

The distant sound of thunder could be heard and Sasuke looked up at darkening sky to see the thunder clouds starting to move in.

"I heard that it was going to rain tonight." Naruto mentioned, also looking up at the grey clouds.

"Where did you hear that?"

He shrugged. "Some lady talking to her friends on the street."

"I see."

"Yeah," Naruto sighed and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "well I guess Kurama and me better find a good place to stay for tonight, some place where we won't get soaked and places like those are actually pretty tough to find. Come on Kurama."

With Kurama at his side, Naruto waved goodbye to Sasuke and started walking back the way he came.

Sasuke just stood there and watched him walk away, the words he had just spoken moments ago still ringing in his ears. At that moment it really hit Sasuke how hard Naruto's life must be, a life out on the streets, with no fixed place to stay, no warm bed to sleep in, not even a roof over his head to shelter him from the wind or rain. He just had to make do with what the streets would provide him. Sasuke could see it now, Naruto and Kurama curled up together on the cold hard ground of some dark old alleyway with nothing but a worn out cardboard box to keep them warm.

The air was already quite cold and Sasuke felt a slight shiver pass through him even though he was wearing his school jumper _and_ blazer.

Though it was definitely too big for him, Naruto's jacket didn't look all that warm, plus it had quite a few holes in it.

So in a spur of the moment, just as Naruto was about to take a turn that would lead him out of sight, Sasuke surged forward and rushed after the blonde boy.

"Naruto!" He called out.

Said boy stopped and turned to look at him, with curiosity shining within his sky blue eyes.

"What is it?" Naruto asked as Sasuke came to a stop in front of him.

Suddenly feeling a little self-conscious and slightly ridiculous, Sasuke slid his hands into his pockets, partly to keep them warm from the cold and partly out of habit.

"Look, if you stay outside tonight you're going to freeze to death so… why don't you come stay at my place."

Once the words were out of his mouth, only then did Sasuke chance looking at Naruto and when he did he was met with the sight of the blonde boy staring at him with his mouth hanging open. His eyes were wide and looked as if they were going to pop out their sockets any minute now.

"Close your mouth, idiot." Sasuke said when Naruto failed to do more than stare and gape at him. "You'll catch flies."

Naruto finally seemed to snap out of it, but his eyes were still impossibly wide and he seemed to still be in disbelief at what Sasuke had just told him.

"You… You want me," He pointed to himself dumbly, "to come and… stay at your house!?"

"Was I speaking gibberish to you?" Sasuke gave Naruto an irritated glare.

Naruto blinked a couple of times as if he was still trying to get his head around the fact that Sasuke had just offered for him to come and stay at his house.

Sasuke sighed. "If you don't want to then fine…"

"No, no, no!" Naruto cut him off, waving his hands frantically. "That's not what I meant, I'd love to come to your house it's just that… it's not every day that someone invites me to spend the night at their house, ya know."

"Hn. Probably more like never."

"Yeah, pretty much."

Sasuke felt himself relax a bit.

"Well come on, I don't plan on standing out here all afternoon and exchanging sappy pleasantries." He sniffed and began walking.

"Ah, you're such a considerate guy, Sasuke."

* * *

"So… what are you gonna tell your parents?" Naruto asked as they were walking down Sasuke's block. "I mean they probably wouldn't be too happy about you bringing a hobo and his dog home would they?"

"I'll just say you're a kid from school who needs a place to stay while his parents our out of town and I offered for you stay at mine." Sasuke explained. Because like hell he was going to tell his dad that Naruto was actually a kid living on the streets and he offered him a place to stay because he felt sorry for him. "And it's actually just me and my dad."

"Huh? What about your mum?" Naruto asked with raised eyebrows.

"She's in Russia at the moment covering some story about a government conspiracy."

Naruto gasped. "Your mum's a spy!?"

"No, you idiot, she's a journalist." A spy, really?

"Oh." Naruto's tone dropped significantly. "Well that's cool too I guess."

"Hn."

When they finally reached Sasuke's house, Naruto started going on about how big a house it was and asking if Sasuke was some kind of millionaire.

"If I was a millionaire, I'm pretty sure I'd be living in a much nicer place than this."

"But it's so _big_."

"Hn. It's no bigger than your average double storey house. Quit exaggerating."

Sasuke pulled his keys out from the inside pocket of his blazer as they approached the front step but then suddenly stopped when a thought occurred to him.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke turned around. "He can't come in." He said pointing to the dog sitting at Naruto's side.

"What? Why?"

"Because, I have cats inside and I don't want him running amuck inside trying to get them. Plus my dad isn't a big fan of dogs so I'm sure as hell he'd crack it if he saw a dog in our house."

Naruto bent down and wrapped his arms around Kurama, looking very much like a little kid whose parent had just threatened to take away their favourite toy.

"But he's good." Naruto whined. "He won't chase your cats; I promise I'll tell him not too, he'll listen."

"He didn't seem to listen to you when you were busy chasing him down the street just before." Sasuke pointed out sceptically.

"Nooo." Naruto tightened his hold on the dog. "He'll listen this time; I'll make sure he doesn't do anything bad."

Sasuke scowled at the boy currently giving him the _puppy-dog-eyes_ compete with a trembling lower lip.

"Fine." Sasuke relented. "But you better keep him on a tight leash or I swear I will kick you out and you can go find somewhere else to sleep tonight."

"Yay!" Naruto jumped up and cheered. "You're the best, Sasuke!"

"Hn." Sasuke grumbled and unlocked the front door and stepped inside with Naruto following close behind, with Kurama in his arms.

Looking around, Naruto let out a low whistle. "Nice place ya got here, Sasuke."

"Thanks."

Sasuke slipped off his shoes without untying the laces and placed them up against the wall.

"Meow."

Sasuke turned to see the two feline miscreants, Denka and Hina come walking down the hallway towards Sasuke and Naruto. From where Kurama was held in Naruto's arms he watched the two cats stride past with unblinking eyes, his bushy tail started to thump against Naruto's stomach and he started emitting whines as he struggled to jump out of Naruto's arms to get to the cats.

Denka spared Kurama a disinterested glance before plonking his behind down and licking his forepaw while Hina didn't acknowledge the excited dog at all.

"Kurama," Naruto ground out struggling to keep the dog in his grip, "Stop it, you damn dog calm down!"

The harshness in Naruto's voice seemed to have an effect on Kurama as he stopped wriggling around in Naruto's arms. Still Sasuke wasn't too sure that he would remain as still as he was for much longer.

"Let's go up to my room." Sasuke offered, ignoring the noisy cats at his feet that were demanding to be fed.

Sasuke lead Naruto up the staircase, the old mahogany steps creaked under their weight with each step they took.

"So, where's your dad?" Naruto asked, his eyes flittering about the hallway nervously as if he expected Sasuke's dad to just randomly pop out and scare the living day lights out of him.

"Probably still at work."

"Okay, so where does he work?"

"At the police station." Sasuke said as he pushed open the door to his room and allowed Naruto and Kurama to enter first.

"Huh? So you weren't making it up when you told Kidomaru that your dad was chief of police?"

Sasuke frowned at the boy giving him an astonished stare. "No, why would I make that up?"

Naruto shook his head hastily. "No reason." He said and then proceeded to look around Sasuke's bedroom. "This is a cool room."

"I'm honoured you think so." Sasuke remarked teasingly as he slid his school bag off his shoulders and placed it inside his wardrobe, along with his blazer, which he hung up on the coat hanger. "You can put him down if you want."

Naruto looked a little confused by what Sasuke meant but when Sasuke nodded at the panting dog in his arms, Naruto caught on and an expression of relief passed over his features before he set Kurama on the carpeted floor.

Sasuke watched Kurama as he started to sniff around the room. "If he pee's anywhere, he goes outside." Sasuke warned.

"Hehe, don't worry, he actually makes it pretty obvious when he needs to pee." Naruto assured. "Like he does this thing where he kind of starts pacing and then spins in a circle, so I'll be sure to stop when he does something like that."

"Hn. You better, because I don't want my room smelling like dog crap."

Naruto didn't reply, instead he started looking about Sasuke's room starting off with looking at the posters on his walls. Not that Sasuke had a lot and the few that he did have were not that much to look at anyway. Sasuke left Naruto to it while he pulled out his phone from his back pocket and checked his messages.

He had four: three from Karin and one from his father.

He chose to check the one from his dad first.

_I won't be home until after 9:00. _

_You will have to make dinner yourself._

_There should be some pasta the pantry._

"Hn." Sasuke texted back a reply saying that was fine and that he had a friend staying over for the night before tossing his phone onto the bed covers and resting his arm across his forehead.

"Hey Sasuke?"

"Hm." Sasuke looked over to the side to find Naruto standing near his chest of draws, examining the photograph he had on there, which was the one of his mother, Itachi and himself.

"Is this your mum?" He asked pointing at the photo and turning to look at Sasuke.

"Yeah, that's my mother." Sasuke confirmed sitting up on his bed.

"Wow, she's pretty hot." Naruto uttered thoughtlessly.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "What did you just say?"

"Oh... uh... I mean, she's pretty... she looks just like you!" Naruto chuckled nervously scratching at the back of his head.

"Hn."

"And uh, is this your... brother?"

Sasuke's entire body tensed up. He hadn't looked to see who Naruto was referring to but he knew just who he was talking about (how could he not? There were only three people in the picture anyway). He felt as if a bucket of ice-cold water had just been tipped over his head and there was an agitated coiling sensation in his stomach. These were all feelings Sasuke had experienced before and was all too familiar with. The freezing up, the cold chill down his spine and the sickening feeling in his stomach was what Sasuke felt every time someone talked about or just mentioned Sasuke's older brother.

Naruto, who had looked back at Sasuke and become slightly concerned when he saw the dark-haired boy sitting on the edge of his bed looking deeply troubled, cautiously approached Sasuke, feeling like the mood in the room had shifted.

"Sasuke? Are you... okay?"

It took awhile but finally Sasuke responded by exhaling audibly.  
"Yes... That's my brother." He finally managed to say.

Naruto frowned at the low tone in Sasuke's voice as well as the fact that Sasuke didn't turn around to face him when he spoke, just kept his head bowed and staring at his hands clasped tightly in his lap. But still he went on.

"Really, you never told me you had a brother, where is he? Is he at work or something?"

If possible, Sasuke tensed up even more and he felt his chilling and coiling sensations intense as well as felt his heartbeat pick up in speed.

_Damn it. Doesn't this kid know when to shut up? _

Memories were beginning to push their way into his mind and before his eyes, but he couldn't allow himself to wallow in them. Damn he was starting to make progress; he was just starting to get better. But this damn boy had to make things difficult.

"Sasuke?" Naruto spoke hesitantly and reached out with a hand to touch Sasuke's shoulder.

"He's dead."

Those were the blunt and detached words that were uttered from Sasuke's mouth and he could practically feel, Naruto freeze up behind him as well as heard the barely audible intake of breath.

Silence prevailed in which both boys stood as still as statues. Naruto staring at Sasuke with impossibly wide eyes and Sasuke's head remained lowered so that strands of his black hair fell into his face, his expression unreadable. Even Kurama sat quietly between the two.

"H-How...?" Naruto couldn't help but ask, he spoke in barely above a whisper.

Sasuke winced involuntarily as if he had just been struck over the head. He almost felt like throttling Naruto at this moment, just to get him to shut up. Couldn't Naruto tell that this was painful for him? Sasuke didn't want to give Naruto details about how his brother died. Why had he even asked that? The angry irrational part of Sasuke was screaming for him to shout, punch, kick, throw something across the room, to let his anger out, to direct it at the ignorant blonde, to storm out of the room and lock himself in the bathroom across the hall.

But he didn't. He didn't do any of that. He wasn't some temperamental child and he wasn't going to act like it. So, collecting his thoughts and calming the fuming voice in his head, he gave Naruto his answer.

"Cancer... He had cancer." Oh god was it hard for Sasuke to say those words without breaking down then and there.

"Oh shit. Sasuke... I'm _so_ sorry man..." Naruto said, calmly and gently.

"Can we... Not talk about this right now?" At this point Sasuke felt that if he were to keep going then he would lose his grip on his emotions and might just have a break down.

"Yeah, of course." Naruto nodded, swallowing. "Sorry... I really didn't mean to pry."

Sasuke shook his head. "It's alright." Not really, but he wasn't going to make a big deal of it.

Naruto made a sound that Sasuke couldn't quite distinguish but when he glanced over at him, he saw Naruto reaching around and digging a hand into one of the back pockets of his pants.

"Here," Naruto pulled out what looked like a crumpled piece of paper and held it out to him, "look at this."

Sasuke took the paper from Naruto with obvious hesitancy and on closer inspection, Sasuke realised that it wasn't just a piece of paper, but a photo.

It was a photo depicting two people; a tall, handsome man with a kind smile on his face and a beautiful young woman with long bright red hair and an ecstatic smile imprinted on her face. It didn't take a genius to realise who these two people must be.

"Are these your...?"

"My parents? Yeah, that's my mum and dad." Naruto said with a sad smile on his face.

Naruto looked just like his dad, the same tan skin tone, and spiky, blonde hair. Though his father's hair was a little longer, especially around his cheeks, where some golden strands fell down to roughly frame his face. Looking at Naruto's mother, it was easy to tell that he had gotten his facial features from her, as well as the shape of his face and eyes.

Naruto's parents stood shoulder to shoulder and held between the two of them was a chubby baby, with a thin layer of blonde hair on top of his head and a toothless mouth opened wide in an excited smile.

Naruto looked to be only a couple of months old in this picture; he couldn't have been any older than a year.

The three of them looked so happy.

If you were to try and picture what a perfect happy family were to look like, then this photo would be it.

"They died that year." Naruto explained somberly. "They got into a car crash and... well... they didn't make it."

Sasuke's eyes drifted away from the photo and looked up to find that Naruto was wearing the gravest expression Sasuke had ever seen on him. All traces of his usual cheer were gone, instead to be replaced by sombre look as he gazed down at the photo in Sasuke's hands.

"You don't have to tell me that." Sasuke said looking away.

"No. But I wanted to."

Sasuke looked back at Naruto and Naruto gave him a half-hearted smile that also seemed a little apologetic. Was this Naruto's way of saying he was sorry for asking him about Itachi? If so, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He didn't want Naruto feel like he had to share something painful from his past, just because he asked Sasuke about his.

After a long pause, Sasuke handed stood up and handed the photo back to Naruto. He actually felt kind of emotionally drained.

"My dad's not coming home until after nine, so we have the house to ourselves until then."

"Oh that's ... cool I guess."

Sasuke frowned as he watched the boy standing in front of him. He still seemed a bit down and Sasuke wasn't sure he liked this side of Naruto.

"Have you ever played Call of Duty before?"

Naruto's head snapped up. "No, but I've always wanted to."

"Hn. Why don't we go don't we go get something to eat and I'll teach you how to play?" Sasuke offered.

That stupid grin was back and Naruto jumped up, punching his fist into the air. He then took two quick steps towards Sasuke and wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

"Thank you Sasuke! You're the best, ya know!"

Sasuke cringed at the loud of volume of Naruto's voice so close to his ear and managed to shove him off.

"Moron, don't shout in my ear."

Sasuke and Naruto exited his bedroom, with Naruto practically skipping down the hallway and Kurama running alongside them.

* * *

So... Itachi's dead. I feel like I kind of just threw it out there if you know what I mean? But I couldn't figure out a way to reveal it any better. But there's still more to be explained about Itachi and how he died as well as Naruto's parents and how he ended up living on the streets.

So please stay tuned for more :)


	8. IMPORTANT NOTICE!

So... Been a while since I posted the last chapter huh?

And you're all probably wondering why I haven't updated this fic yet right?

Well I'm about explain what's happening at the moment.

Firstly, I just want to assure you all that I'm still continuing this story, so don't worry about me discontinuing it or anything since I've already made it my personal goal to complete this story no matter what. But after posting the last chapter I started suffering from a severe case of writers block -_-

I just couldn't bring myself to write anything so I decided to take a break and wait for it to pass. Then just as I started to find inspiration to write, family issues and drama came up and writing time had to be set aside.

I'm also now in my final weeks of school before exam time and I am SO busy studying for SACs and what not that I hardly have any time to myself.

I've already started writing chapter 8 of _Looking for Paradise_ but it's going to have to be put on hold until I get through all my SACs because I would really like to study as much as I can to get some good scores.

But yeah, I'm really sorry to keep you guys waiting (I know what it's like to wait forever for a fanfic to update) but unfortunately school comes first. But expect the next chapter of _Looking for Paradise_ in maybe late October – early November

Sincerely: _SilenceEchoes39_


	9. Chapter 8

_UGHH! This chapter took an eternity to write! I thought I was never going to finish it, it feels so good to finally have it done and published though :)_

_And once again I apologize for the long wait._

* * *

The next morning found Sasuke and Naruto watching T.V in the living room while eating their breakfast on the couch.

Up until this point they had been flipping through channels on the television since Naruto had been so undecided on what to watch since he hardly (if ever) got to watch T.V. They eventually settled on an episode of _'Adventure Time',_ on Naruto's request.

Sasuke wasn't overly fond of cartoons; in fact he seldom watched them but, he supposed he could put up with watching them just this once. Naruto on the other hand was thoroughly enjoying the show as he kept laughing and making comments on what was going on.

"Whoa man, that horse is totally creepy the way it just stands there and watches..."

"Stop talking with your mouth full idiot, you're getting bits of cereal everywhere." Sasuke reprimanded him but to no avail.

"Holy shit look at its eyes! The pupils just went so big that's so weird! Ha ha ha!"

Sasuke just sighed and took a bite out of his crispy peanut butter toast and used his toe to rub Kurama (who was lying down on the floor) behind the ear.

Fugaku had already left for work so Sasuke thought it would be okay to let Kurama out of his room, since the poor dog had been locked up in there all night and also because Denka and Hina were outside wandering in the backyard and enjoying the sunlight.

Last night had been one of the more interesting nights Sasuke had spent with his father since his parents had split.

Fugaku had come home at nine just like he said and Sasuke had introduced him to Naruto, saying that Naruto was a classmate of Sasuke's whose parents were out of town and that Sasuke had offered for Naruto to stay with them. Luckily, Fugaku bought the story (why wouldn't he? It was a completely reasonable and realistic explanation anyway) however, he had scolded Sasuke by saying that next time he should tell him before hand, but other than that Fugaku had no real qualms with letting Naruto stay with them. Sasuke wasn't too sure what his father had really thought of the blonde. During their conversations, Naruto had acted in his usual exuberant self, contrasting greatly to the type of behaviour that Fugaku is used to what with having such a quiet and reserved son as Sasuke and Sasuke wasn't sure if his father liked Naruto's overzealous personality. But of course Fugaku did not outwardly show it, he remained as stone-faced as ever while talking to the boy, not giving a single clue as to what was going on inside his head.

But knowing his father, Sasuke predicted that Fugaku would probably prefer it if Naruto didn't stay for too long.

For the rest of the night, Naruto and Sasuke spent their time together playing games on Sasuke's Xbox and watching popular videos on YouTube which Naruto had never had the chance to watch before. _Gangham Style_ was the one video that Naruto constantly kept replaying and singing along to (albeit poorly) until Sasuke had finally had enough and closed the tab the video was open in, stating it was time for them to go to bed.

Once the ending credits started to play on the T.V, Sasuke grabbed the remote and turned off the television.

"But Sasuke," Naruto protested, "There was another episode coming."

"I don't care." Sasuke stated bluntly. "We're not going to spend the whole day sitting on the couch and watching T.V."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"You," Sasuke pointed at Naruto, "Are you going to show me around."

"What? Why?"

"Because, I just moved here and since I've been at school all week, I haven't had the chance to check out much of the sights."

"There isn't really much to look at." Naruto admitted.

"Don't care." Sasuke got up from the couch taking his now empty plate with him as well as Naruto's empty cereal bowl. "We're going out into town so hurry up and get ready."

"Damn, you're so bossy, Sasuke, ya know?" Naruto whined as Sasuke left to go to the kitchen.

"Hn."

There was a chill in the air and the sky was grey and cloudy with not a single ray of sun to be seen. While they were out exploring the town, Sasuke came to realise that Naruto definitely wasn't the best tour guide. He hardly remembered where anything was and they often ended up at the same place twice. It was lucky that Konoha wasn't such a large town otherwise they surely would have ended up lost.

After many wrong turns and much arguing, Naruto showed Sasuke to the Konoha shopping centre where they decided to have a look around inside, leaving Kurama sitting near the bike racks outside the front door, where Naruto gave him strict orders to 'sit' and 'stay'.

Inside was busy and bustling with crowds of people, making their way from shop to shop. Naruto and Sasuke passed by various shops as they made their way through the crowds of people.

Naruto stopped suddenly when they reached a video game store. Sasuke watched as Naruto walked right up to the glass window, so his nose was almost pressed against it and looked at all the games on display longingly while his breath fogged up the part of the glass near his mouth.

"Don't stand so close idiot." Sasuke sighed as he came up to stand next to Naruto.

"Look at all the games, Sasuke." Naruto spoke as if he had never seen anything more beautiful or entrancing in his entire life.

"Well then let's go in and take a look." Sasuke suggested. "If you keep standing out here drooling against the glass like that people will start to think there's something wrong with you."

They walked inside the store that was vibrating with the sound of music pulsing through the air and browsed through some of the video games.

Quite a few times, Sasuke was approached by one of the girls that worked there, asking him if he needed help with anything. Sasuke could tell that she wasn't just doing her job, he had enough experience to know when a girl was trying to flirt with him and this girl was definitely flirting with him. It wasn't even that hard to figure out; he could tell by the way she made sure to never stay too far away from where he was looking and how she seemed to find everything that came out of his mouth humorous. However Sasuke made sure to keep their chats brief, trying to send the girl as many hints as possible that he was interested, while ignoring the incredulous looks Naruto was sending him for turning down such a pretty girl that was obviously interested in him.

"Hey Sasuke come over here!" Naruto called excitedly.

Sasuke put the game he was looking at back on the shelf and sauntered over to where Naruto was waving him over at the end of the isle.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Isn't this that new zombie game?" Naruto held out the game to Sasuke. It was an _Xbox 360_ game and in large black letters was the title _The Walking Dead. _

"Yeah, that's the one. I heard it's supposed to be good." Sasuke answered.

"I saw an ad for it once in some shop and thought it looked really cool."

"Why don't you get it then?"

The smile on Naruto's face deflated somewhat. "As much as I would love to, there's the issue of me not having any money _or_ an Xbox."

Sasuke studied the blonde boy in front of him for a minute or so. Though he did his best to hide it, Sasuke could tell that Naruto was upset. Naruto was a fifteen-year-old boy, without a family or a home. There wasn't even a single cent to his name. A boy Naruto's age, should be able to do something as simple as going shopping and being able to a buy game. Although it seemed like such a trivial thing, Sasuke realised just how upsetting it must be for Naruto to come into a store like this and see things he'd want and like to buy and not be able to do so.

Sasuke felt a small twinge of guilt at having brought Naruto in here. But he knew of a way to make up for it.

"Would you like to buy it?" Sasuke asked.

"I can't, I don't have any..."

"But you'd like to buy it?"

"Well yeah obviously." Naruto answered hesitantly while giving Sasuke a strange look.

Sasuke nodded and reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked as he watched Sasuke leaf through the money in his wallet.

"I'm checking to see how much money I have so I can buy that game."

Naruto didn't say anything, just stared at Sasuke utterly gobsmacked.

"Wh-Wait... a-are you... serious?"

Sasuke looked back up at Naruto and raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

Naruto just blinked.

Sasuke pulled out the necessary amount of money before tucking his wallet back into his jean's pocket. He took the game from the still stunned Naruto and headed towards the front counter. Once Sasuke had paid for the game he and Naruto left the video game store.

"You didn't have to do that, ya know." Naruto said after awhile of them walking in silence. "I mean it's not like I would have had a breakdown if I didn't get it."

"You know when someone buys you a gift, it's customary to just say 'thank you' and accept it." Sasuke explained while effectively side-stepping two young children who were too busy chasing each other to watch out for other people.

"But what am I meant to do with it? I don't even have an Xbox to play it on."

"You can keep it my house and play it on my Xbox."

"But..."

"Just shut up and be happy about it." Sasuke snapped irritated.

Naruto frowned at Sasuke and then down at the bag he was carrying with the game inside it but he didn't say another word on the matter, which Sasuke was quite thankful for.

After wondering around and browsing through different stores for awhile, Sasuke came to a halt outside a clothes store.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, stopping once he noticed that Sasuke had stopped.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, dark eyes scrutinizing his clothes.

"I think we should buy you some new clothes."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"Your clothes," Sasuke said pointing at Naruto. "are dirty and worn. Some new clothes would probably serve you some good instead or wearing the same dirty things all the time."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed into a frown as he pulled out the hem of his oversized jacket and inspected it.

Sasuke knew that Naruto knew he was correct on the matter of Naruto's clothes being worn out and filthy and how could he not? His hideous orange jacket, was stained, torn and frayed at the hem and the edges of his sleeves. His baggy brown pants were full of holes with a particularly large tear at the knee that exposed his skin.

Sasuke didn't even give time for Naruto to argue and walked inside the store with Naruto following soon after.

"Sasuke, you really don't have to do this, ya know." Naruto said as Sasuke started browsing the many items of clothing that were hanging off of hooks around the shop.

"No, I don't _have_ to. But I'm still going to."

"But seriously, Sasuke, it's fine I've got no problem with wearing this stuff."

"Tell me one thing Naruto, exactly how long have you been wearing these clothes for?" Sasuke asked turning to face Naruto with a questioning look.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer but then paused and closed it. "Umm..." The blonde's mouth turned upward as he looked up to the ceiling, pressing his index finger against his chin.

Sasuke had his answer. "My point exactly."

Naruto was about to argue once more when another, higher-pitched and feminine voice was heard. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke swung around at the sound of his name and the first thing he saw was a head of pink.

"Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl came to a halt in directly in front of Sasuke, an impossibly wide smile plastered across her face.

"Hey Sasuke, wow I never thought I'd see you here."

"Yeah, never thought I'd see you either."

Sakura was dressed in a mauve jacket, white t-shirt and a pair of simple blue jeans. For some reason, the sight of Sakura dressed in such casual clothes was an odd sight for Sasuke, possibly because he had only ever seen the girl dressed in their school uniform which consisted of a white shirt, navy blue jumper and blazer and a plaid blue skirt.

Sakura giggled. "Well if you come here often enough, you'll find that I'm here four times a week."

"You work here?" Sasuke inquired.

Sakura nodded. "My parents own this store so I just work here to earn a bit of pocket money."

"I see."

"So what are you doing here?" Sakura asked still smiling. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"My... friend and I were just looking for some clothes to buy for him." Sasuke explained gesturing to Naruto who was standing behind Sakura.

Naruto grinned and waved at the pink-haired girl when she turned around to face him. Obviously Sakura hadn't noticed him before (what with being so preoccupied with Sasuke and all) since she looked quite startled when she noticed the blonde boy standing behind her.

"Oh! Hello! I'm Sakura." Sakura smiled politely and held out her hand to Naruto at the same time her green eyes swept over Naruto's ratty old clothes judgingly, but said nothing about it.

Naruto hesitated but he took Sakura's hand in his and gave it a light shake. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke's... friend."

"Nice to meet you." Sakura looked back at Sasuke and clapped her hands together. "So you were looking for clothes to buy?"

"Yes." Sasuke nodded.

"And preferably something in orange." Naruto spoke up causing Sasuke to give him an unimpressed look which he promptly ignored.

"Uh... okay, I'll see what we have."

They followed Sakura around the shop as she picked out clothes that she thought were suitable (orange) enough. Naruto was actually very picky about which clothes he liked and which he didn't, which surprised Sasuke considering the boy had been wearing the same old tattered clothing for god knows how long.

Eventually they picked out four different shirts (one was a hideous _Adventure Time_ shirt that Naruto had been adamant on getting) two pairs of jeans and three pairs of tracksuit pants and four different jackets (three of which were orange).

When Sakura took the clothes up to the counter, Sasuke pulled out his wallet once again and handed her some of his money when she told him how much it cost. Sasuke noticed that Sakura looked a little surprised when Sasuke handed her his money, since she was obviously expecting the blonde-haired boy to pay for _his_ clothes, but she kept her mouth shut, instead adding the money to the cash register and proceeding to fold and pack away the clothes in plastic bags, which Sasuke thankful for. He really didn't feel like having to make up some excuse as to why Naruto didn't have any money on him.

"There you go." Sakura said cheerily as she handed Sasuke the last of the two shopping bags.

"Thanks."

"Sakura."

Sasuke looked in the direction of the unfamiliar voice to see a tall fair-skinned woman who looked to be in her forties with short blonde hair. Sasuke could actually see some resemblance to this woman and Sakura so he assumed that she must be Sakura's mother.

"Yeah mum?" Sakura replied.

And he was right.

Sakura's mother walked around the counter and came to a stop next to her daughter.

"Once you're done here, I need you to help me unpack some new clothes in the back."

"Okay."

Sakura's mum nodded and then her emerald eyes moved towards Sasuke and Naruto standing on the other side of the counter. "Oh hello there."

"Oh mum, this is Sasuke; he's new here and goes to my school." Sakura explained to her mother. "And this is his friend, Naruto."

A look of realisation dawned across the woman's face as she looked from Sakura to Sasuke, making Sasuke feel somewhat uncomfortable under her gaze.

"So you're the Sasuke who Sakura's always talking about!"

"Mum!"

Sasuke blinked. "Uh, yes... that would be me." From behind him, Sasuke could hear Naruto's attempts at restraining his laughter.

"I'm Sakura's mother, Mebuki Haruno."

"Nice to meet you."

"Oh, I remember at the beginning of the week, Sakura came home looking so smitten and she kept going on and on about this new boy in her class, saying how handsome he was."

"Mum, please stop talking." Sakura looked absolutely mortified, trying to shield her furiously blushing face with her hand and refusing to look directly at Sasuke.

Mebuki leaned over the counter, with her hand cupping her chin, with a scrutinizing look on her face as she stared at Sasuke, who was now feeling even more uncomfortable than before.

"Well you were right Sakura, he is quite good looking or, as you would put it, he's quite a _'hottie'_." Mebuki chuckled.

Sakura clutched onto her mother's arm, her face scarlet by now. "Mum, I'm begging you, please stop talking!"

Mebuki only laughed and patted her distressed daughter's hand. "Oh Sakura, I'm only joking around."

"Well you're not funny!"

"We'll be going now." Sasuke announced in an attempt to escape the awkward situation he had found himself in.

"Alright then, it was pleasure meeting you." Mebuki waved at them as they headed out the store. "Feel free to come back any time."

Once they were out of the store, Naruto elbowed Sasuke in the arm. "You're quite the ladies man, aren't ya Sasuke?"

"Shut it, idiot."

Afterwards both Sasuke and Naruto headed down to the food court to buy themselves some lunch, both agreeing on getting some subway.

After purchasing their meals, Naruto and Sasuke found themselves a table to sit at and eat their lunch.

Halfway, through his foot-long sub, Naruto stopped eating and set the rest of his sandwich down on the wrapper, a solemn expression on his face. "Sasuke."

"Hm?"

"Why are you doing this?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto confused. "Doing what?"

"Being so nice to me. I mean first you let me sleep at your house then you buy me a video game and clothes and food."

"And? What's the problem with that?" Sasuke inquired before taking a sip of his iced coffee.

"We hardly know each other, we only met a couple of days ago, ya know!"

Sasuke was quiet, propping his elbows on the table's surface and clasping his hands in front of his mouth as he took a moment to consider what Naruto had just said. It was true, he supposed, that they didn't really know each other all that well considering they hadn't known each other for more than a week.

"Well then," Sasuke said coming up with a solution, "tell me about yourself."

"What?"

"You said that I hardly know you, so the best way to fix that would be for you to tell me about yourself."

Naruto gave Sasuke an incredulous look before his azure eyes turned downwards to look at his hands in his lap and the corners of his mouth pulling down. When Naruto didn't say anything, Sasuke began to think that Naruto wouldn't answer him, that maybe Naruto didn't want to talk about himself. Sasuke wasn't about to force Naruto to tell him anything, so just as he was about to tell Naruto to forget about, the blonde boy spoke up.

"I... I was born on October 10th... and as I already told you yesterday, my parents died when I was only a year old, so I don't remember them at all." Naruto paused and bit at his bottom lip. Sasuke assumed that speaking about his parents was somewhat difficult for Naruto, which was understandable, so Sasuke just sat there waiting quietly for Naruto to continue speaking.

"I grew up with my godfather, he wrote a lot of porn books and whenever we went out he would always be checking out women and a lot of the time he would get slapped whenever he tried flirting with them." Naruto smiled as he said this but was soon replaced with a troubled frown. "He kind of lived in a bad neighbourhood, so there was a lot of crime and bad people around and... one day when I was ten we, uh... we went out and... uh..." Naruto's voice cracked and Sasuke was astonished to see that he looked on the verge of tears.

"Naruto, you don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to." Sasuke said gently. Obviously what Naruto was about to say was a very unpleasant memory for him.

Naruto sniffled and rubbed at his eyes which had gathered a bit of moister in them. He raised his head to look at Sasuke again with a watery smile on his face. "We went down to the petrol station when some guy approached us and robbed us before shooting my godfather in the chest."

Sasuke hadn't even realised his eyes had gone wide and his jaw had dropped.

"He died straightaway and I... panicked and ran." Naruto continued. "I don't know how long I ran for, but I ended up at a train station, so I just sneaked onto one of the trains that was about to depart and got off at the first stop. I was pretty lucky that no one caught me since I didn't have a ticket, ya know."

Such a horrible event to have occurred in someone's life and engraved in their memory and yet Naruto said it all so easily and not once shedding a single tear. Sasuke was astounded.

"Since then I've been living on the streets, hopping around from town to town. Three years ago, I found Kurama when I was walking through a park and someone had dumped in a box."

"So... when did you come to Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

"About three months ago." Naruto picked out a strip of chicken from his sub and ate it.

A crease appeared in between Sasuke's eyebrows as he frowned at the boy sitting in front of him. "So you never finished primary school and you've never been to high school?" He questioned. "You've just... wondered the streets of any place you've been to?"

Naruto nodded, his face betraying no emotion. "Yeah... Pretty much."

"Is that all you plan to do? Just live on the streets for the rest of your life?" Picturing Naruto living out the entirety of his life as wandering hobo troubled Sasuke.

"No... I mean... I, uh... I have a plan." Naruto muttered, somewhat bashfully.

"What plan?"

Naruto scratched the side of his face with his pointer finger, a light blush dusting his scarred cheeks. "Well... On my first year of homeless life, I was cold and starving so I went to this homeless shelter, where they gave me a blanket and some soup. There was this old lady there and she sat down next to me. She talked to me for a bit and I told her where I came from and how I ended up on the streets. She told me that although life might be tough for me now, if I just keep enduring and don't let life get me down, I'll find paradise."

"Paradise?"

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, at first I thought she was weird for saying something like that but then I thought about it later that night. If I just keep trying and don't give up, then maybe life will get better for me and ever since then, I've been looking for my paradise."

"So that's your plan? To find a paradise?" Sasuke asked sceptically.

"Yep." Naruto said with that stupid grin on his face.

_This guy. _Sasuke thought. _He really is something else._

* * *

_And that ladies and gentlemen, is how this fic got its name.  
_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are always appreciated ;)_


End file.
